Tonight Looks Good On You

Album: Old Boots, New Dirt (2014)
Charted: 46
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was penned by Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ashley Gorley. Though Jason Aldean and Dallas Davidson have been friends for a long time, this is the first time the songwriter has had a cut on one of the Macon, Georgia native's records. "He came out to a show, and was playing some songs," Aldean told Billboard magazine. "He played this, and I knew it was a hit right from the get-go."
  • The song finds Aldean singing about a man who is madly in love with his girl and he can't help complimenting her.

    You ain't got a dress that I don't like
    You ain't got a pair of jeans that don't fit you just right
    There's not a minute in the day that you don't knock me out, that you don't blow me away.


    Aldean told Billboard: "I heard Lionel Richie say one time that one thing that never goes out of style when you're writing songs is people falling in love and out of love. Those songs are always going to work no matter what."

    Aldean added that he and producer Michael Knox try to pick those songs very carefully. "To me, it's a fine line of trying to find songs that aren't too soft in what it says," he said. "We don't quote a lot of 'love song' kind of things, but when we do, the melody is always really cool, and the way it's worded isn't really sappy."
  • The music video was directed by Mason Dixon and features Aldean playing a working man who offers to finish a job so his colleague can meet his date. The country star said it was easy for him to return to his blue-collar days, when he worked a regular job, when filming the clip. "It definitely wasn't hard for me to go back to my clock-punching days," he told CMT. "It wasn't that long ago that I was a Pepsi delivery guy, racing the clock, hoping to get home before sundown. So it was easy to put myself back in those shoes and kinda cheer for the guy who works his ass off to get home to his girl."
  • Dixon wanted to reach fans outside the typical 18 to 25 demographic. He explained in a Songfacts interview: "[The song] felt very throwback to me and I was thinking, there's tons of fans that are older. There's older single moms that are fans of Jason, there's old blue-collar guys that are fans of Jason. Where's their video? Where's the storyline that talks about them? That was my approach - let's include this demographic that's not really represented in music videos as much and do something for them and make it a little different."
  • Around the time the video was shot, Aldean got engaged to former American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr, which accounts for him not being the romantic lead in the clip. "It's always touch and go with the artist being romantic lead depending what their dynamic is in their personal life," Dixon explained. "I proactively avoid any sort of conflict that might arise from that."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Intentionally Atrocious

Intentionally AtrociousSong Writing

A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe ShaverSongwriter Interviews

The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.

Songs About Movies

Songs About MoviesSong Writing

Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Michael W. Smith

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.