Debuting his first full-length studio album Montevallo in late 2014, Sam Hunt is fairly new to the country music scene. Upon first listening, I found him to be fairly similar to the rest of the up and coming bro-country singers; he didn’t appear to have an incredibly distinct sound or look (though I can’t deny that he’s completely gorgeous), and his lyrics seemed to discuss nothing more than beautiful women. This was also my first impression of his song “Take Your Time” (2015)—I thought it was simply about trying to pick up a girl in a bar. However, after watching the music video for this song, I now have a deeper understanding of the song itself and a heightened respect for Sam Hunt as an artist.
The “Take Your Time” video is a completely unexpected presentation of the song as it tackles the difficult and raw topic of domestic violence. The video starts off happily by showing a woman, her husband/boyfriend, and their baby shopping together and enjoying kisses on the forehead. However, the story quickly turns dark as the man’s alcoholic tendencies and anger issues are exposed. Sam, watching these events unfold as a bystander, tries to find the best way to intervene. At the end of the video, he finally fights the man off while the woman and her baby escape in a beaten up pickup truck.
Sam’s lyrics “I don’t wanna steal your freedom / I don’t wanna change your mind / I don’t have to make you love me / I just wanna take your time” discusses his hesitancy in intervening in what appears to be an unsafe and troubling relationship. Sam is put in a difficult position as he struggles to find the courage to trust his instincts and take action. He isn’t trying to get the girl to fall for him, but instead is truly concerned about her well-being and wants her to “take [the] time” to get help.
I am completely impressed with Sam’s use of this video to promote social change and make a statement about something so real and under-discussed. Bringing issues to light is one of the first steps in creating change, and this song is the perfect example of how musicians possess the power to fight for causes that they care about. I’m excited to see where the rest of Sam’s career takes him, and am hopeful that he will continue to use his talent and passion to make a difference—ultimately encouraging others to follow in his footsteps.
Dear Hannah, I agree with you in how great this song is. It has such a unique message. Ever since Sam released his free acoustic mixtape a few summers ago when he had 1,000 twitter followers, I have been one of his biggest fans. I remember watching acoustic videos of this song on YouTube before he even released it. Immediately I knew it was a special song. To be honest, I’m not sure he wrote this song with domestic violence in mind. Sure, it makes for a great video but I think this song is more about just wanting to get attention from the girl everyone wants. However, it can definitely be interpreted in that way and I think that’s what makes country music so great!
I honestly had no idea that this song had this meaning to it either. I thought it was about him wanting to take a girl home for the night and “take her time” for that short moment they’re together. I didn’t like the song because of that. But now that I see this whole other meaning and side to Sam Hunt and this song, I have gained more respect for him as an artist. Hopefully, the meaning of the song was originally intended as it is displayed in the music video, a show of sticking up for what’s right and defending someone you care about. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I would’ve had no idea.
Hannah I am so glad you took the time to analyze this song and music video. Otherwise I never would have known that this song covered such a deep and meaningful topic. It is so easy to assume these days that men are only thinking about women in a provocative way when in reality he could be singing about an actual worldwide issue. I wonder if this music video is a reflection of something Hunt might have actually encountered or experienced in real life so he chose to bring it to light. How closely does this issue hit home with him?
As someone who has heard this song thousands of times on the radio, I also thought it was simply about a guy attempting to pick a girl up in some bar. I never thought that the song would have a completely different meaning, and after reading your article and watching the music video, I’m honestly very surprised. This was always a great song in my opinion, however the added message about such an important but rarely discussed issue really pushes it into a realm of meaningful songs that I think a lot of modern country fails to achieve. Really great article!
Many of my friends and I can spend hours in the car jamming out and singing along to Sam Hunt without a care in the world, and personally I always thought that this song was sweet because I just interpreted the meaning as Sam wanting to get to know a girl rather than picking her up. I am very glad that you chose to write about this because I had never seen this music video before and am happy that I got the chance to do so. It certainly gives me a new respect for Sam Hunt’s music, as I too thought he was just a shallow bro-country artist who could sing some catchy tunes. I think this article is a perfect blog post because it shows a different and important side of country music that not even some country fans might realize. Thanks for sharing!
I know every person who commented before me said they had no idea that this is what the song was about but I am going to say it too because I was surprised when I read this. I am so glad that you did this and now I want to go look up popular songs that have completely different meanings than what I thought. I think it is really cool because it shows that popular, successful songs can really be about deep subjects that need to be addressed. Even if this song wasn’t written for the purpose of domestic abuse, I think it means something that he made the music video about it. Clearly it is something that he thinks needs to be addressed.
When I first listened to this song, I didn’t think of domestic violence. I thought of a classic country song where a guy idolizes, respects, and loves a girl. Watching the music video, however, made me really analyze the lyrics to his song. I though the music video was amazing and really did a superb job depicting domestic violence. I agree in that artists have the ability to change the world. They way they act and the words they say can really make a difference. I, too, look at Sam Hunt in a new light after watching this video. I hope he writes more songs that raise awareness about other serious topics in today’s world.
Ok Hannah, everyone has said this but OMG THE MEANING OF THIS SONG IS SO DIFFERENT THAN I THOUGHT. Honestly, I did not like this song at all when I first heard it on the radio. It got to the point where I would turn on the radio and would turn the channel when I heard it, only to find it was on every other radio station (pop and country), so I would just turn the radio off all together. I think that this music video has given me such a different perspective of the song where I actually kind of like it. (Buying it on iTunes right now actually…) Country music, in my opinion, does a good job at shining a light on issues, like domestic violence, rather than just covering them up and sugar coating things. The music video for Josh Abbott’s She Will Be Free sends a similar message. If music videos were still as big of a deal on TV and everywhere like they were 10 years ago I would have come to this acceptance of the song much sooner, so thank you for officially introducing me to it.
I seriously had no idea what the real meaning of this song was until now. It makes me love it even more than I did before, Sam Hunt is using his fame to send a message about domestic violence and thats such an amazing this for a celebrity to do. I have gained so much respect for his through this, especially since my sorority’s philanthropy is domestic violence awareness. I think this topic affects many people and he is doing a lot of good by bringing awareness to it. Also, the fact that the true meaning of the song is different than you would expect makes so much more compelling and interesting.
Here I am to agree with the other bazillion comments, but your blog was so eye opening! I honestly change the radio station when I hear this song come on, so I can’t say that I knew much about it in the first place. Through my snippets of listening to this song, I would never have pegged it as having such a powerful meaning. I’m really glad you included the full video so I could watch it right away. As you mentioned, domestic-violence is something that many people tend to disregard, but it truly is so important. I like to think that maybe this may change someones life for the better because of how much awareness it is raising. Great topic choice!
As an RTF major who is studying to be an editor this music video really stuck out to me. There were so many juxtapositions! Not only from the lyrics and the imagery, but also the rap and the country mix, as well as the cross-cutting between the women’s situation with the man, and Sam Hunt. I really enjoyed seeing the back and forth pattern in the video and all of these juxtapositions – they really created a tension that was resolved at the end. I also wonder what some of the more “love song-ey” lines suggest a possible relationship or not.