Girl Crush

"Girl Crush"
Single by Little Big Town
from the album Pain Killer
Released	December 15, 2014 (2014-12-15)
Format	Music download
Genre	Country, blue-eyed soul
Length	3:13
Label	Capitol Nashville
Writer(s)	Lori McKenna Hillary Lindsey Liz Rose
Producer(s)	Jay Joyce
Little Big Town singles chronology
"Day Drinking" (2014) "Girl Crush" (2014)

"Girl Crush" is a song recorded by American country music group Little Big Town. It was released in December 2014 as the second single from their sixth studio album, Pain Killer.^[1]

Content

"Girl Crush" is about a girl obsessing over another girl because that girl stole her lover. As CMT's Alison Bonaguro says, "it's more about wanting to taste her lips in order to taste him and to drown in her perfume, to have her long blond hair — and so on — all in an effort to get him back".^[2] Bonaguro also adds, "On the other hand, it could also be about a girl obsessing over the girl who is with the man that she wants but has never had. That mystery is unclear, which only adds to the allure of this song".

Lori McKenna said that when she presented the idea to co-writer Liz Rose, that Rose disliked the idea at first, but that Rose changed her mind after hearing the first verse that Hillary Lindsey had written. Group members Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild heard the song and asked that it be saved for them.^[3] Fairchild is the lead vocalist on the song.

Reception

"Girl Crush" has received mainly positive reviews. CMT's Bonaguro adds, "if anyone knows how to write a country song that's never been written before, it's these three" (referencing the song's writers - Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, and Liz Rose). Billy Dukes of Taste of Country states, "Karen Fairchild's lead on Little Big Town's new single 'Girl Crush' may be the best vocal performance of the year. Her anguish drives through you like a steam engine, and afterward she's nothing but a puff of white smoke barely holding on to existence".^[4] Dukes adds, "listen to the song on repeat and find yourself exhausted … in the best possible way" and "mass homogeny on the radio makes it seem impossible to create a sound or write a song that's truly unique. It's as if all the good ideas have been used up. Little Big Town prove this is not the case on each album they release. In fact, they usually do it two or three times".

Some radio stations were reported to have pulled "Girl Crush" from their playlists, in response to concerns from listeners who interpreted the song's lyrics to be about lesbianism. In response, Fairchild said, "That’s just shocking to me, the close-mindedness of that, when that’s just not what the song was about…But what if it were? It’s just a greater issue of listening to a song for what it is.” In addition, the label created a short commercial in which the band discusses the song and its actual meaning.^[5] Billboard consulted several radio program directors on its panel and found only one who detailed a specific complaint from a listener.^[6]

Music video

The music video was directed by Karla Welch and premiered in April 2015.^[7]

Cover versions

• Kelly Clarkson covered the song at the Microsoft Store opening in Cerritos, California in November 2014.^[8]
• Miranda Lambert and Gwen Sebastian covered the song at a surprise concert in Nashville in January 2015.^[9]
• On the April 13, 2015 episode (Season 8) of The Voice, contestant Meghan Linsey (formerly one-half of Steel Magnolia) performed the song. Country singer Blake Shelton, who is a judge on the show, said that the song was his favorite on the radio at that point.^[10] Reba McEntire, who served as a mentor on the episode, also reacted favorably to Linsey's rendition.^[11] Linsey's version peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart^[12] and number 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.^[13]

Chart performance

"Girl Crush" debuted at number 48 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 8, 2014. It also debuted at number 55 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart for the week of December 27, 2014. It also debuted at number 50 on the Canada Country chart for the week of January 10, 2015. It also debuted at number 100 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of February 21, 2015. It also debuted at number 81 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart for the week of March 14, 2015. "Girl Crush" sold 10,000 copies in its debut week of November 8, 2014.^[14] As of April 2015, "Girl Crush" has sold 632,000 copies in the United States.^[15]

The song has become their highest charting single, and first career top 20 single, on the Billboard Hot 100, besting their previous peak of 22 with "Pontoon" in 2012.

References