Don't worry about giving the audience what they want. F**k the audience - they don't have a clue what they want. Give them what you know they will buy because radio will play it over and over until they mindlessly open iTunes and click the little 1.29 button. Secret: The customer is actually smart enough that they'd love to hear something that took you more than 15 minutes with 3 co-writers to shit out, but they don't need to know that. They are so numbed out by the daily grind and beaten down by a full schedule and worryin' about Obamacare that they don't even have time to worry about putting quality into their ears. Therefore, you as the songwriter don't have to worry about quality. Hell, if Luke Bryan can be a megastar, that whole "accounting for taste" thing is out the door with the Tuesday morning trash. All you need to concern yourself with, cracka, is writing a song about what goes on away from the office, as long as it is something positive. Like sex, driving around, drinking a beer, watching some football or lighting a big-ass bonfire in close proximity to some trucks. Maybe throw in a beat that slightly resembles that dopey rap song that topped the charts in 1992. Honkies love to be reminded of "Rump Shaker" while they're drinking cheap beer by their chimenea in the backyard or stuck on I-20 West with 3 minutes to get to work. Don't worry about art or expressing yourself. Just give the dumbass radio listener something to nod their head to while they drive to the cubicle and you will rule the charts, son.
*Not actually written by John Rich.
