Single Review: 'Take Your Time' by Sam Hunt

by Aprille Hanson
I actually enjoy Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off.” It’s a catchy pop song and one that I’ll catch myself singing along to more times than not. So, what if Swift tried to market it on country radio? Sure, it played on a few stations until they realized that she had taken her career over to the pop genre. She was not a country artist anymore. Why would you try to market a song in a genre it clearly doesn’t belong in? It doesn’t make sense. This is why Sam Hunt’s venture as a “country” artist is truly baffling. I loved his first single “Leave the Night On” – again, it’s a catchy pop song. Not a hint of country weaved into it. But then comes his second single “Take Your Time,” in which he does a slow-talking hip hop/rap-type bit to kick of the song and its verses. Despite this, it’s dominated country radio and sailed up the country charts. I just don’t get it. When I go to order a pizza and they show up with a taco, I’m not getting what I wanted. I like pizza and I like tacos. But when I order a pizza, I expect to be delivered a pizza. When I listen to country, I expect to hear country music, same with pop. The song isn’t even pretending to be a pop-country, taco-pizza mixture – it’s straight up tacos. Basically, it’s about a guy trying to pick up a girl. Yawn. When you listen to other genres like pop, R&B, Hip Hop and Rap, you can tell they belong, you know what you’re getting. When Hunt’s music can dominate a country chart that means the genre has lost its uniqueness, its identity. Now who is to say artists like Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Ed Sheeran are not country? There are no more lines apparently and that means Hunt has committed identity theft on Music Row.