“God, Your Mama, and Me” (with Backstreet Boys)
Florida Georgia Line
Written by Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson
To participate in a Florida Georgia Line record is to voluntarily lower yourself so you can fit in with them.
Backstreet Boys can sing. Florida Georgia Line cannot. So to make them fit together, the vocals of both acts are autotuned to the point that they sound like they have the same level of talent.
I suppose the presence of the Backstreet Boys should be where I focus my criticism, but it’s really hard to muster up outrage for their presence on a mainstream country record when I once heard Tammy Wynette duet with the Chipmunks.
Quite frankly, I’d rather listen to Backstreet Boys than to Florida Georgia Line. At least “I Want it That Way” was a great pop record. “God, Your Mama, and Me” is a terrible one.
Grade: F
I have to concur with all that you’ve said about this pairing. It’s quite repellent.
I also, however, want to say “Kudos!” for not referring to the Backstreet Boys as a “boy band”. That term that has so often been used to describe the BSB’s is an insult to actual boy bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys (IMHO).
I’ve never heard the Beatles or Beach Boys referred to as boy bands.
Backstreet Boys can sing. Florida Georgia Line cannot. So to make them fit together, the vocals of both acts are autotuned to the point that they sound like they have the same level of talent.
** Perfect **.
@Leeann – Me either, but I think the point is that “band” usually refers to a group who plays their own instruments. To that end groups like Backstreet Boys, N Sync, etc are not “bands” and to call them such is to undermine actual bands like The Beatles.
I’ve always thought it was just a matter of alliteration: “Boy band” sounds better than “boy group,” much as “girl group” sounds better than “girl band.”
Granted, there’s a good deal of implicit sexism in those distinctions, as well, and an obvious rockist bias that “bands” are inherently superior to “groups” that may be driven more on vocal talent or production.
I agree that the song is not good.
I don’t know much pop or rock music after the Eagles (who, like the Beatles and Beach Boys, were never referred to as a boy band). I know nothing about the Backstreet Boys or N Sync. Couldn’t name one of their songs without googling most likely to their wikipedia site. I also can’t name any songs by Madonna or Justin Bieber. Never heard Bieber sing. Can he?
I have said before that it’s been a longstanding rule of mine that you can tell where an artist’s head is at by the songs they choose to cover. It seems that can also be extended to who an artist chooses to sing duets with. Some duet pairings off the top of my head include:
• Jason Boland/Billy Joe Shaver
• Mark Chesnutt/George Jones
•Alan Jackson/George Strait
And then…this.
Evolution of mainstream country music circa 2017, indeed. Isn’t it just grand?
I’d like to clarify what I meant by comparing the Backstreet Boys to the Beach Boys and the Eagles:
The Backstreet Boys were often referred to as a “boy band”, which implies that they were instrumentalists as well as vocalists. But they are only a vocal group, they don’t play their own instruments, therefore they are not a band, which is why it is more than a misnomer to call them a “boy band”.
That probably doesn’t clear things up necessarily, but it happens to be true.
As for FGL–well, “them boys” ain’t a whole lot better (IMHO).