Heading on a Sunday drive…
[Video]
[6.00]
Ian Mathers: Many years ago (a decade before this, I guess), I remember a very early, very different iteration of the Jukebox, or maybe just us behind the scenes at initial Jukebox home Stylus, losing our goddamned minds in delight at Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” long before at least half of that band turned out to be super shitty. I am pleased for all of us to announce that “Big Ole Wagon” is superior to that song in pretty much every possible respect. I just wish we could send it back in time, because I guarantee we would have lost our minds even harder for Chiyanti and Dominique Hammons.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: The front seat’s broken and the gimmick’s draggin’.
[4]
Michael Hong: I can appreciate some of the ways Chiyanti plays with genre as a joke, like flipping a Ford F-150 into a prop to twerk on, and a fiddle that feels on the right side of scandal, but so much of it is stupid in an unpleasant way: the word “waggy,” the way she can’t really commit to speaking or singing, and the way she switches to a school teacher voice to sing “Old MacDonald.”
[3]
Scott Mildenhall: More country music should be as fun as this. Taking things as far as a straight-up “Old MacDonald” interpolation could be an Icarus-like act, but by the time it comes in, the unwavering vivacity of both Chiyanti and Hammons has built enough cheer that almost anything is possible.
[7]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Chiyanti brims with charisma and boasts a unique point of view, but “Big Ole Wagon” ultimately needs some serious upgrades in production and mixing to live up to her raw talent.
[6]
Katie Gill: I am a huge sucker for a well-placed violin. Lindsey Stirling? Ayasa? Inject that shit directly into my veins. So when the violin dropped, I was like a kid at Christmas. All aspects of this song play wonderfully together, fusing various aspects of country music with a wonderful booty-bouncing club beat. And it’s fun! The lyrics are cute and quirky, the beat slaps, Chiyanti is obviously enjoying herself and having a grand time throughout the song, and that brief “Old MacDonald” interpolation made me grin. This is the natural evolution of “Old Town Road” and I absolutely love it.
[8]