Hints of Lesbianism? Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" Rattles Country Music's Moral Fences

By Timothy Yap Mar 04, 2015 10:06 PM EST

Country music used to be wholesome music aimed at the enjoyment of family. It's one of the few genres that parents can feel safe to allow their children to listen to. It used to be a genre that promotes family values. But not anymore. With the prevalence of bro-country themes such as drinking, treating women as two-dimensional objects, now Little Big Town has stretched the limits even more with their new single "Girl Crush."

"Girl Crush" is about a girl obsessing over another girl because that girl stole her lover. As CMT's Alison Bonaguro says, "it's more about wanting to taste her lips in order to taste him and to drown in her perfume, to have her long blond hair - and so on - all in an effort to get him back". Bonaguro also adds, "On the other hand, it could also be about a girl obsessing over the girl who is with the man that she wants but has never had. That mystery is unclear, which only adds to the allure of this song".

Lori McKenna said that when she presented the idea to co-writer Liz Rose, that Rose disliked the idea at first, but that Rose changed her mind after hearing the first verse that Hillary Lindsey had written. Group members Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild heard the song and asked that it be saved for them

So, is the song about lesbianism? Here are the words:

I gotta girl crush, hate to admit it but
I gotta heart rush, ain't slowin' down
I got it real bad, want everything she has
That smile and the midnight laugh she's givin' you now

I wanna taste her lips, yeah, 'cause they taste like you
I wanna drown myself in a bottle of her perfume
I want her long blonde hair, I want her magic touch
Yeah, 'cause maybe then, you'd want me just as much
I gotta girl crush, I gotta girl crush

I don't get no sleep, I don't get no peace
Thinkin' about her under your bed sheets
The way that she's whisperin', the way that she's pullin' you in
Lord knows I've tried, I can't get her off my mind

I wanna taste her lips, yeah, 'cause they taste like you
I wanna drown myself in a bottle of her perfume
I want her long blonde hair, I want her magic touch
Yeah, 'cause maybe then, you'd want me just as much
I gotta girl crush, I gotta girl crush

I gotta girl crush, hate to admit it but
I gotta heart rush, it ain't slowin' down