Single Review: Kenny Chesney, “Noise”

“Noise”
Kenny Chesney

Written by Kenny Chesney, Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally, and Jon Nite

“We didn’t turn it on, but we can’t turn it off.”

That’s a whole lot of social commentary wrapped up in one line.

Kenny Chesney has sung a lot of songs about how he only feels happy and at peace when he’s on a quiet island somewhere. “Noise” is the first time he’s taken a stab at what he’s wanting to get away from.

I was prepped for one of those “urban life is a nightmare” songs when he started out lamenting downtown construction, but he makes some smart connections to how small town gossip and kids blaring music in parking lots can have the same white noise effect.

I’m sure the politicians talking on television will feel the most relevant during this election season, but what intrigues me about the song is how it plays with two conflicting notions. We can’t get away from the noise, but we also seek it out. There’s no real space for silence anymore. Not with smart phones. We’re all doing a lot more noise making than listening is the lesson, I guess.

I would be interested to hear a stripped down version of the song, but it seems strange to complain about a song about noise being noisy. Anything else would go against the lyric, I suppose.

A good effort anyway from Chesney, and it makes me curious to hear more from his upcoming album.

Grade: B+

5 Comments

  1. I guess I don’t really get the point of this song. I guess making a noisy (obnoxiously so) song about noise is supposed to be some kind of ironic social commentary or something, but does Kenny Chesney of all people have any credibility to sell this message? And is that The Edge on guitar?

    I really don’t like this one at all.

  2. Never cared for Chesney so my opinion shouldn’t count for much. A few of his old songs I may have liked with a different vocalist. “You Had Me From Hello” written with Skip Ewing comes to mind. But listening to “Noise” made me long for (Groaner Alert) the “Sounds of Silence” so I played Simon & Garfunkel this morning.

  3. I will never understand the appeal of Kenny Chesney. The fact that he’s been around for as long as he has, basically doing the same song over and over without any musical growth, simply amazes me.

    While this song isn’t about sitting on a beach, it doesn’t seem that different than anything else he’s put out in two decades. Yet 10 years from now, he’ll probably still be hashing out this garbage and every song will probably be a big hit on radio. Head scratcher.

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