Luke Bryan has some choice words for critics of his new single, ‘Fish Hunt Golf Drink’, with the Georgia native suggesting that certain listeners have lost their sense of fun.

While many are enjoying Bryan's playful new release, a number of country fans have taken to social media to poke fun at the song's somewhat simplified grammar, like, “Wake up, coffee / Camo, climb tree / Wet line, 18 / Fish, hunt, golf, drink / All fall, all spring, all summer long / I'll be livin' it up and livin' it on a / Country boy's dream”.

The primary criticism levelled at the song is the fact that, in today's era where AI-generated tracks are emerging every day on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, ‘Fish Hunt Golf Drink’ perhaps feels a tad close to the style of content produced by many ‘AI country artists’. However, Bryan is arguing that it's simply meant to be taken as a fun, light-hearted song, and people are overthinking and overanalysing it.

Under a recent post, for instance, Bryan complains, “Well I’m learning that no one wants to just have fun anymore. I choose to have a damn blast. Either come along or go be blah”.

Elsewhere, the ‘One Margarita’ chart-topper outlines the intentions behind the track, before questioning if haters’ perspectives are clouded by social media, “It's called a fun song. Just listen and have fun. Go get o a boat quit scrolling on your phone all day”.

Although Bryan is being quite widely ridiculed for the lyrics in ‘Fish Hunt Golf Drink’ across socials, and his responses may come off as a little over-defensive, he inadvertently raises an interesting point. Since the emergence of artists like Zach Bryan - who, despite their shared last name, is no relation to Luke Bryan - country music has leaned towards this weighty, introspective songwriting style.

We see this across today's wave of so-called ‘dude-with-a-guitar’ artists that draw inspiration from Zach Bryan, such as Sam Barber, Ty Myers, Dylan Gossett and Waylon Wyatt. The mood across their catalogues is sombre, raw and often devastating.

The shift away from the much-maligned Bro-Country of the 2010's - of which Luke Bryan was a key proponent - was widely viewed as positive, due to the sub-genre's disappointing tendency to objectify women and offer up generally superficial narratives.

But at the same time, it does often feel like we've lost some of the levity and carefree ambience that permeated the songs of that era, exchanging this for melancholic rumination.

So while we're not by any means saying that ‘Fish Hunt Golf Drink’ deserves to be praised as a brilliant piece of art, there is an argument that Bryan perhaps warrants some respite from all the denigration, mocking and flak he has been receiving for it.

With a potential Florida Georgia Line reunion seemingly on the horizon and hints of a return to the party vibes of the 2010's through certain recent releases, perhaps country music is about to take a load off - and frankly, this writer think it's about time.

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