Editorial: Luke Bryan's Success Comes With The Price Of Artistic Failure

Look, Luke Bryan was never some gold standard for country music. But back in the day, there was some hope the dude could conjure up some kind of quality music. All My Friends Say is fun to listen to, while Do I and We Rode In Trucks show off his gift at delivering quality songs with a more melancholy tone. It's actually around the time of Do I that Bryan became a superstar, with that tune starting a trend where every single one of his singles (sans his two most recent efforts) have achieved Gold status, with all but two of those managing to reach platinum status.

Bryan does have a knack for cranking out memorable vocals in some of his pieces, and the lyrics in select pieces of his work do have innovation. But they're far outweighed by the likes of That's My Kind Of Night and Country Girl (Shake It For Me), which feel more like a parody of country music than songs that have sold over 3,000,000 copies. While he's found success with these songs, one has to wonder how long that success can last.

After all, neither of these songs are really that memorable, and their blatant sexism is already dating this particular duo of tunes (one of which came out in 2013 for God's sakes). Here's what I find interesting though; not everything he's done in recent years is low quality. Drink a Beer is a fantastic and low-key look at loss, while Play It Again a sweet romantic venture. But their sales and pop culture presence are heavily outmatched by the likes of Country Girl (Shake It For Me), and it's a pity to see someone who has potential like Bryan waste it on extremely lackluster efforts.