“I Wanna Talk About Me”
Toby Keith
Written by Bobby Braddock
Radio & Records
#1 (5 weeks)
November 16 – December 14, 2001
Billboard
#1 (5 weeks)
November 24 – December 22, 2001
This record is as goofy as hell and I’m totally here for it.
I dare say in the end that it might’ve been a good thing for Toby to go “Rah! Rah! Americah!” after this because the one two punch of “How Do You Like Me Now?!” and “I Wanna Talk About Me” could’ve set him on a Joe Ditty path that reduced his legacy to a handful of novelty hits.
Because there’s simply no way he could’ve kept executing records like this at the same level of wit and charm, as we’ll see with some of his later uptempo romps. This one is so damn good, though. It’s hysterically funny and so uniquely suited for Toby Keith. Who else could balance the swagger and sincerity needed for this one to work? It’s his “Shake the Sugar Tree” in that regard. Only Keith could sing this convincingly.
Am I worried about grade inflation at this point of the feature? A little bit, but it’s not like the rest of this decade’s number one singles aren’t already known. Enjoy the rarefied air. We’ll be back down to earth soon enough.
“I Wanna Talk About Me” gets an A.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
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To my own surprise I will actually give this one an “A-“. I say surprise because I HATED this song when it came out. I wasn’t really listening and thought it was about him, only later really getting that it was a shot at his partner who couldn’t stop talking about herself. Yes, a great little novelty song. I am also surprised he did not write this one but Bobby Braddock is a great writer.
Yup! I love this one. It’s so fun and catchy as hell! He executes it perfectly.