Jerrod Niemann's Hurt-filled 'What Do You Want'

Breaking up is hard to do when you've been with someone for so long. Even harder is when that former love calls for no reason but to say hello. In actuality, they really want you to say you miss them and you want to take them back. American country artist Jerrod Niemann takes the conversation further in his latest third single, "What Do you Want," off his latest third album, "Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury." The simplistic tune could be portrayed in a variety of genres of music with the story behind the music. Niemann's vocals showcase the hurt and confusion of being the one receiving the calls. He's tired of being hurt and playing games.
Newcomer Niemann knows the value of a little repetition. Not the monotonous, expected kind featured on country radio and favored by flavors of the month, but the well-designed rhetorical device that turned out the catchy lead single, "Lover, Lover" and sent it to the top of the country charts and struck a chord amongst country music fans. The song "What Do You Want" is about getting over a break-up and how tough it can be when your ex still seems to be lingering in your life. It's a hurt-filled, slow-tempo and the perfect follow-up to that smashing debut, relies on emotion over production and employs that same looping conceit to similar success. After leaving his love in "Lover, Lover," he is now having to face that old flame who continues to pop in and out of the picture.
Niemann is not a typical country artist, and the audacious, groundbreaking "Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury" is a far cry from a typical country album. The listeners quickly realize they're in for an extraordinary ride. Niemann shows his sensitive side with "What Do You Want," the emotional centerpiece of the album. "That was the first time I had ever written a song truly from the heart," Niemann admits. "I wasn't trying to write a hit song. I just wanted to get it out of my system. I was missing an ex-girlfriend, and I would just start the process of getting over her, and then I'd hear from her. So that's how that song came about."
Beyond a titular question fundamental to all flames that just won't die, there's an additional and oddly comforting repetition in the tune's production. The pulsing drumbeats found at the song's beginning and end could play in a continuous loop, not dissimilar from the cyclical nature of the protagonist's played-out relationship. The female harmony, sung by co-writer Rachel Bradshaw, acts as the voice of his lover; part urging, part listless, her echoes remind listeners that there's another side to this story and take the song up an ethereal notch or two. Regardless, its authentic commitment to the exploration of pain and love is an unabashed, modern take on honky-tonk's favorite theme. Beyond its lyrical and thematic reiterations, the most successful repetition the subtle, haunting "What Do You Want" is likely to achieve will be the chart-topping repetition of its predecessor.