Little Big Town, The Taylor Swift Secret & The “Big Announcement”: What’s The Truth?
Call me skeptical but I think Little Big Town aren’t being completely honest with their fans.
Yesterday morning (Nov. 1) during a press conference to talk to the Nashville media about their forthcoming album, the country band revealed in a kind of dramatic and emotive way a "little secret", that their new single “Better Man” was written in fact by none other than superstar Taylor Swift. Little Big Town had said nothing about the writer of the song (which came out on October 20th) until now because, in their words, the name of Taylor Swift would have "overshadowed" the song and because they feared people in the end wouldn’t really appreciate "Better Man" for what it is, a beautiful country song. So... why again are they revealing to the world now Taylor is the writer? They say that they thought they wouldn’t have been able to keep “the secret” secret when people in the media started to ask them about “Better Man” in promotional interviews. Mmmm, really? Again, call me skeptical but doing this “big announcement” JUST the day before they might win something and perform at the 2016 CMA Awards (airing live tonight, Nov. 2), and JUST when they had seen that, after two weeks out, “Better Man” wasn't having the most epic chart/radio performance (it was doing well, but it was not the instant hit they were expecting…)? OK, in my humble opinion, the only reason Little Big Town did this “big announcement” yesterday was because “Better Man” was already in the need of a “boost”, for it was kind of stalling, and heck yeah the band reached their goal: “Better Man” is back in the Top 20 on iTunes! Why? 1) Because yesterday’s “big announcement” is now a headline on every website, and 2) because Taylor (who I think didn't really care whether they revealed or not "Better Not" was written by her) posted a, now viral, thank-you letter on Instagram. Boom, that’s the Taylor Swift effect.
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Also, what a “coincidence”, last night, just a few hours after the “big announcement”, Little Big Town premiered the official music video for “Better Man” on YouTube. I’m not totally sure but I think the plot of the video has something to do with a broken family, because the man left the wife, and they couldn’t have the perfect happy family they wanted, but they still see each of there because of the kid... or something like that. But anyway, what’s important isn’t the plot of the video, nor the song (anymore), but the hilarious comments infesting the YouTube page of the music video. As you, and the band, can already imagine, the comments are all about Taylor Swift; how she’s a great songwriter, how she should go back doing country, how their fans hope she performs “Better Man” live someday, etc. So Little Big Town were right, the name of Taylor Swift, the writer, has overshadowed “their” song. People don’t care now how good the song is, but wonder if it’s inspired either by Calvin Harris or by Tom Hiddleston and why does he need to be a better man.
A good song foolishly "sacrificed"? Well, if they can turn it into a huge hit now that the secret is out and get a lot of money out of it, then Little Big Town will indeed have done the right thing by revealing Taylor was the true writer and by "sacrificing” their, now overshadowed, own song.