Don’t believe the hype: Little Big Town‘s “Girl Crush” isn’t as controversial as the media might have you believe. As we previously reported, very few homophobic listeners actually called in to complain to radio stations over the song’s alleged lesbian theme. But there’s one thing you can say about the tune: It is provocative (in fact, LBT’s Karen Fairchild described it using that word prior to its release).
On Sunday night, Little Big Town brought their buzzy new song to the 50th ACM Awards in the Dallas Cowboys stadium. The country community seemed to respond to the song with open arms — Little Big Town got a big reception for “Girl Crush” at the ACMs.
As for the song itself, if you actually listen to the lyrics, you can tell it’s not so much about a woman pining for another woman — it’s about a woman wishing she were more like another woman to nab the attention of a man that has ensnared. Speaking to Billboard recently, LBT’s Kimberly Schlapman touched on the mild controversy surround the tune: “When it was happening, it was disheartening. We heard all these angles and negative news stories about the song. But what was so incredible was that the people who heard it and believed in it rallied around it.”
Watch it below.