Billy Currington - "We Are Tonight"

[Deleted]

"We Are Tonight", the title track from Billy Currington's most recent album, is set to be released as the project's 2nd single. Lead single "Hey Girl" was a #1 hit at both Billboard and Mediabase.

CLICK HERE to listen to "We Are Tonight" (YouTube)

Songwriters: Josh Osborne, Sam Hunt, and Marc Beeson
Impact Date: November 18 (Mercury Nashville)
Source: AllAccess

[Markus Meyer]

Definitely like it more than "Hey Girl".

Lyrics are kinda meh but the melody is awesome.

[xy0cmiller6yx]

First heard this song because of Sam Hunt, so I've known this song for a few months now. Its going to be hard for me to get over his version, but I usually always like the songwriters version better.

So with that, I already love the song. Its a good song for Billy Currington, but I don't really care for the raspiness of his voice in this song for some reason. But absolutely 100 times better then Hey Girl

[bjer127]

So many other solid choices on the album, IMO. This just sounds too "safe", and so loud in the chorus. I would have preferred the fantastic 23 Degrees South, or One Way Ticket, or Another Day Without You. I'd even settle for Closer Tonight. But this just makes me want to change the dial...again. Hey Girl got really annoying after first few listen. Country radio needs some game-changers, big time...

[rsmatto]

Nov 1, 2013 11:09:07 GMT -5 bjer127 said:

So many other solid choices on the album, IMO. This just sounds too "safe", and so loud in the chorus. I would have preferred the fantastic 23 Degrees South, or One Way Ticket, or Another Day Without You. I'd even settle for Closer Tonight. But this just makes me want to change the dial...again. Hey Girl got really annoying after first few listen. Country radio needs some game-changers, big time...

A couple of those songs are just to "traditional" for radio right now, at least on the heels of "Hey Girl." This one always seemed like the logical follow-up.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Ah, another back road/riverbank/truck song. Cause that topic hasnt been covered enough lately. <eye roll>

[sabre14]

I actually don't care for this one either from Billy. It's better than "Hey Girl", but then again almost anything would be. For some reason I don't like his voice on this song. Plus the lyrics in the chorus have already gotten on my nerves with the "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa" and the repeating of "We Are" before he says tonight. Just seems Mercury tried to pick the safest most vanilla picks as the first two singles. I agree with rsmatto that the better tracks on this album were just too traditional for single material in today's country landscape and its a shame cause both "23 Degrees And South" and "One Way Ticket" are better songs to me.

[onebuffalo]

tasteofcountry.com/billy-currington-we-are-tonight-video/

[bigfan101]

I know one of the main actresses in this video!! So cool :) She is the one driving the car in the early parts of the video.

[churchchoir]

Does this appear to be moving up unusually slowly for a Billy Currington song that's been out for two weeks? I am surprised to say the least that this hasn't even showed up in the Mediabase top 50 yet. Maybe it's just a slow time of year on the charts, but I'd still expect this to be moving along a little more quickly at this point.

[Deleted]

Dec 2, 2013 13:08:47 GMT -5 churchchoir said:

Does this appear to be moving up unusually slowly for a Billy Currington song that's been out for two weeks? I am surprised to say the least that this hasn't even showed up in the Mediabase top 50 yet. Maybe it's just a slow time of year on the charts, but I'd still expect this to be moving along a little more quickly at this point.

I think it's too early to say that this is moving too slow. Billy climbed up very quickly with "Pretty Good At Drinkin' Beer", but since then his chart runs have really slowed down. He's also in that "danger zone"--he never ascended to A-list status, and yet we've got all these new guys that radio is embracing...Kip Moore, Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Lee Brice...I could go on and on.

I expect this song to be a very slow climber and to not even peak until May or possibly June. Billy just isn't as relevant as a lot of the other guys right now, in terms of album/single sales as well as touring presence.

[churchchoir]

I guess this will be a "Thinking About"-like run. I just don't get how an artist like Billy could have virtually no momentum despite just getting a #1 and being a consistent hit-maker, nor do I get why songs as radio-friendly as this and the Thompson Square song can have such a hard time even making the top 40. Shouldn't a song of this nature from an artist like Billy at least be an instant top 40? Even artists like Brett Eldredge, Randy Houser, and Jerrod Niemann are having no problems moving up the charts with equally radio-friendly songs.

The only factors I can think of causing such a struggle for "We Are Tonight" are the time of year the single was released and the high levels of pushing done to get "Hey Girl" to #1 on both charts, but there is no way I had seen such a slow climb coming for this song. It seemed to me like a surefire smash that would take a maximum of 30 weeks to peak, but at this rate the climb may be closer to 40 weeks. The song just isn't catching on like these kinds of songs usually do.

I guess this will still be a "chart hit" in the long-run and could still very well at least go top 15, but it can get frustrating when 95% of the songs on the chart have slow climbs. It seems like a year ago A-list artists took about 15 weeks to peak on the chart, B-list artists took about 20-25 weeks to peak, and newcomers took 30-35 weeks to peak. Now, it seems that an A-list artist takes a good 20 weeks to peak, B-list artists take around 30 weeks to peak (supposing they reach the top 10 and don't fizzle out in the teens), and it is increasingly common for a new artist to take close to a full year to peak. These 40-50 week chart runs used to be noteworthy and interesting, and I remember being amazed when Love and Theft's "Angel Eyes" took almost 40 weeks to reach #1, but now I'm hardly surprised that "Carolina" just hit #1 in its 44th week and I expect a lot more new artists to end up with 40-50 week chart runs in the coming year. It already seems Eric Paslay's "Friday Night" will take about 40 weeks to hit #1, and I see a lot of rather "old" singles still below the top 20 that don't seem very close to peaking and will probably last at least 40 weeks before their chart runs are over.

[Deleted]

This is doing about what I expected. Billy is not going to climb up the chart very fast. He's been making music for 10 years now but he's never ascended to A-list status. And as far as touring and sales numbers go, he's not making much of a splash. The We Are Tonight album hasn't sold much, and "Hey Girl"--while a sizable hit--wasn't exactly huge. It's the #1 song on Billboard's year-end chart largely because of a rather long, somewhat under-the-radar run up to #1, and it also benefited tremendously from good timing, based on how Billboard compiles their year-end charts.

Looking around at all the new artists, I find that so many of them have more momentum than Billy does. Billy released his album on the same day that Justin Moore and Chris Young did. Justin's album opened with 4x the sales that Billy's did, and Chris doubled Billy's opening week sales. Artists like Kip Moore, Kacey Musgraves, Scotty McCreery, Tyler Farr, Jake Owen, Brett Eldredge, Danielle Bradbery, Thomas Rhett, Cassadee Pope, Lee Brice, and Randy Houser have all seen stronger commercial showings for their albums, and many of these artists are also on big tours as well -- Tyler has been out with Colt Ford and FGL, Kip and Kacey are hitting the road with Lady A, Thomas Rhett and Jake Owen have been with Aldean, etc.

I just didn't see any reason to expect this song to move up very quickly. Billy has always been pretty underrated and I think that Mercury Nashville is invested in this while also understanding that, for this to be a hit, they need to be in it for the long haul. I do think that this song sounds a little out of place on the radio right now, during the winter months, but it's unlikely to register on most casual listeners' radars until late winter/early spring, and if this is the hit I think it will be, it won't peak until late spring or even into the summer.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Billy's ace in the hole is how laid back he sounds, but I like it when he steps outside that zone now and then. I really liked "Hey Girl" because of the energy in the production and the cool melody, and I'm absolutely loving this one because of its upbeat yet laid-back feel. The production is really different, but it still fits him somehow. I also enjoy any song with a "carpe diem" theme.

Some parts of it almost sound like "The Adventure" like Angels & Airwaves, especially the "whoa oh"s on the chorus.

[Deleted]

This one is starting to pick up nicely now. The bullet is over 400 and it's been seeing sizable audience gains now for the last 7-10 days. He burned through quite a few chart weeks in the 30's but I still think this one will go at least top 10, if not #1. It should be a very popular song this spring/summer as listeners become more familiar with it.

[Cody Wants Out...]

Has Billy always been a slow chart-climber for the most part? He's been around for almost a decade and has obviously had hits before and radio seems to be more resistant towards his material as of late. Anyone know why?

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2014 19:07:57 GMT -5 Cody Wants Out... said:

Has Billy always been a slow chart-climber for the most part? He's been around for almost a decade and has obviously had hits before and radio seems to be more resistant towards his material as of late. Anyone know why?

He's had a few quicker climbers..."Pretty Good At Drinkin' Beer" comes to mind. "Let Me Down Easy", "Don't", and "People Are Crazy" all went up at a decently good clip. But Billy has just always been one of those guys that's never quite been able to ascend to superstar status, kinda like Clay Walker or Trace Adkins, even Gary Allan.

After "Let Me Down Easy" though he cooled off a little bit. I seem to remember "Love Done Gone" just getting stuck in a ridiculously packed and competitive section of the chart and Billy wasn't quite 'big' enough to turn that one into a bigger hit. And then "Like My Dog" was probably not the best choice for the 4th single from Enjoy Yourself.

LMD missed the top 20 and then he spent nearly a year off the airwaves, so naturally "Hey Girl" had a slow climb, and I expected just as much from "We Are Tonight" (even though it's super radio-friendly). Billy is a B-lister and so he and his label will definitely need to work pretty hard to reestablish some momentum for him.

[sabre14]

Mar 22, 2014 19:17:44 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Mar 22, 2014 19:07:57 GMT -5 Cody Wants Out... said:

Has Billy always been a slow chart-climber for the most part? He's been around for almost a decade and has obviously had hits before and radio seems to be more resistant towards his material as of late. Anyone know why?

 And then "Like My Dog" was probably not the best choice for the 4th single from Enjoy Yourself.

I know there were many who didn't care for that song, but I always loved it. In fact I must be the only person here that would take "Like My Dog" over "We Are Tonight" any day of the week.

I really want to join in with the consensus and like "We Are Tonight" but for some reason the chorus is not clicking with me. The repetitiveness of "We are" really bothers me. The melody is pretty decent, but not enough to make me love it. Just another song I have no true care about. It's about 10 million miles better than "Hey Girl" though, so I'll give it that.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

I really liked "Like My Dog" too, but I like this one a lot too.

[dajire4]

Mar 22, 2014 22:30:49 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Mar 22, 2014 19:17:44 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

 And then "Like My Dog" was probably not the best choice for the 4th single from Enjoy Yourself.

I know there were many who didn't care for that song, but I always loved it. In fact I must be the only person here that would take "Like My Dog" over "We Are Tonight" any day of the week.

I really want to join in with the consensus and like "We Are Tonight" but for some reason the chorus is not clicking with me. The repetitiveness of "We are" really bothers me. The melody is pretty decent, but not enough to make me love it. Just another song I have no true care about. It's about 10 million miles better than "Hey Girl" though, so I'll give it that.

Well, Like My Dog has 22 plays in my Itunes while We Are Tonight has 0, so no, you are not the only one ;)

[joey2002]

Mar 22, 2014 17:06:41 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

This one is starting to pick up nicely now. The bullet is over 400 and it's been seeing sizable audience gains now for the last 7-10 days. He burned through quite a few chart weeks in the 30's but I still think this one will go at least top 10, if not #1. It should be a very popular song this spring/summer as listeners become more familiar with it.

Yeah, this has really grown on me, and sounds like a perfect summer song.

One of those "roll the windows down, turn the radio up" feel-good type tunes.  :)

[rjz]

Yes, I'm hearing this a lot on my station lately and it's growing on me also. Nice breezy non Bro sounding summer tune. Miles above the awful 'Hey Girl'.

Billy is very hit or Miss with me, about the only other songs I've liked have been People are Crazy, and I do Like My Dog :)

[countrysuperfan]

Still haven't gotten around to listen to this, probably deterred by 'Hey Girl' which imo is one of the worst country songs ever recorded.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

So far, the only thing I haven't liked from Billy is "Party for Two". (I did get burned out on "Why, Why, Why" but I haven't heard it in ages now, so the burn is gone.)

"Hey Girl" one of the worst? I think the fact that it was Dorian mode is worth something. Not a lot of songs do that.

[onebuffalo]

Apr 17, 2014 9:34:14 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

So far, the only thing I haven't liked from Billy is "Party for Two". (I did get burned out on "Why, Why, Why" but I haven't heard it in ages now, so the burn is gone.)

"Hey Girl" one of the worst? I think the fact that it was Dorian mode is worth something. Not a lot of songs do that.

Is it because of Shania Twain? I think Billy Currington's best songs are Walk A Little Straighter, I Got A Feelin', Must Be Doin' Something Right, Good Directions, and People Are Crazy.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Apr 17, 2014 10:35:28 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Apr 17, 2014 9:34:14 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

So far, the only thing I haven't liked from Billy is "Party for Two". (I did get burned out on "Why, Why, Why" but I haven't heard it in ages now, so the burn is gone.)

"Hey Girl" one of the worst? I think the fact that it was Dorian mode is worth something. Not a lot of songs do that.

Is it because of Shania Twain? I think Billy Currington's best songs are Walk A Little Straighter, I Got A Feelin', Must Be Doin' Something Right, Good Directions, and People Are Crazy.

Nah, it's because "Party for Two" just feels so stilted and clumsily written. It was really obvious from Up! onward that Shania and Mutt were losing their songwriting focus. (Even if "Don't!" is my favorite song of hers.)

[zaclord 🌈]

I always forget this song exists, but whenever I hear it I love it.

[sabre14]

Mar 22, 2014 22:30:49 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Mar 22, 2014 19:17:44 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

 And then "Like My Dog" was probably not the best choice for the 4th single from Enjoy Yourself.

I really want to join in with the consensus and like "We Are Tonight" but for some reason the chorus is not clicking with me. The repetitiveness of "We are" really bothers me. The melody is pretty decent, but not enough to make me love it. Just another song I have no true care about. 

This song is growing on me slightly, and I mean ever so slightly. I still enjoy "Like My Dog" better but it moved into the "turn the volume dial up" category today.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2014 14:34:48 GMT -5 @brian said:

What are you predictions for this peak?

I can see this going Top 10, but I think #1 will be a stretch. It depends on the competition.

I said it back in December that I expected this one to peak in late spring or summer, and I've thought from the jump that this could be a #1 hit. I haven't changed my thinking. This has "summertime anthem" written all over it.

[churchchoir]

I still find it really strange how this one took so long to take off. Sales are decent, this is an obvious radio smash, and Billy Currington's a well-known artist who's had hit after hit, but this chart run was like something we'd see from a brand new artist. Has Billy Currington ever had a run this slow before? I agree that WAT looks like it's going to #1, but this was quite an interesting climb for a solid B-lister. It seems to be increasingly harder to establish momentum at radio these days. It seems a year or two ago that an A- or B-lister would almost automatically follow up a #1 hit with a song that at least made the top 25 with ease (like Chris Young's "Neon" or Lady A's "Wanted You More"). These days radio seems to evaluate each song on an individual basis more. Maybe that's just naive thinking on my part because I've only started following chart runs this closely over the past year. I guess it could just be that in general everything moves much more slowly now. For example, Love and Theft's "Angel Eyes" and Kip Moore's "Somethin' 'bout a Truck" both shocked me in 2012 when they pulled off 35-40 week climbs to #1 and I thought such slow climbs were absurd and totally abnormal. However, in 2013 B-listers like Joe Nichols and Billy Currington took close to 35 weeks to get a #1 and this year just about every song takes close to 30 weeks to hit the top. Perhaps runs like WAT are going to become much more common now.