“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.
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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.
I liked this song when it came out, but I regarded it as being mere fluff and hoped he would get back to more substantial material
B+
I always thought this one was hilarious and interesting. It never felt chauvinistic because he clearly still cares about the woman and just seems too good natured to come off as aggressive. And the rap styled production makes it really pop.
This was almost Blake Shelton’s debut single. Could you imagine?
This was a fun record and consistent with the mischievous side of Toby that he really leaned into after “How Do You Like Me Now?”. It’s an original concept (I think) for a song and highly relatable. Just about every listener has a person in their life who they have this kind of relationship with which makes it easy to understand why it spent several weeks at #1. Any critics it may have are probably people frustrated by the glide path to hip-hop beats in country music that this song definitely helped normalize. That trend would definitely jump the shark a decade later but held appeal for its novelty here and was a good fit for this record.
I can’t go “A” for it though. The first half of the song is clever and original enough to deserve that kind of score but in my opinion Bobby Braddock phoned it in on the second half with an unsatisfying bridge. Saying “you” 12 times in a row isn’t up to the lyrical standard established in the verses. This wouldn’t be the first really good song that starts winding down a minute and a half before the track ends but it’s always stuck out to me as one of the worst offenders. And while I’ll concur that Toby probably pulls this song off more than anybody else from the era could have, I could definitely see Blake Shelton having the swagger to pull it off too. I’m very glad it wasn’t his chosen as his first single though!
Grade: B+
Bobby Braddock wrote this, wow.
It’s not a bad song. It certainly is much better than other embarrassments in the careers of great songwriters, like She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy (Paul Overstreet), Honky Tonk Badonkadonk (Jamey Johnson) or Wish You Were Here (Bill Anderson.)
I’m just so surprised that this was written by anyone other than Toby himself, let alone a serious contender for greatest country songwriter ever who has been writing hits since the 60s.
Back in 1980, Bobby Braddock went behind the mic for a terribly misogynistic garbage “comedy” song called “Nag, Nag, Nag”, which is not only the worst thing with his name on it by a country mile, but one of the worst country songs I’ve ever heard in my life. Even by its era’s standards, it’s shockingly awful, with annoying production tricks and lyrics that advocate spousal abuse. You’d think it was by some one-shot novelty artist nobody’s heard of, not the guy who that very same year wrote “He Stopped Loving Her Today”.
I love “I Wanna Talk About Me” and honestly think it’s one of the best from both Braddock and Keith. But I could see how a non-fan might not vibe with it. And in my opinion, “Nag, Nag, Nag” is still infinitely more embarrassing.