Remember the All-American Rejects? It turns out one of their most popular songs, "Dirty Little Secret," was almost a country song. And unbelievably, it kinda works really well.
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The band synonymous with the emo phases of many sat down and had an interview with the Zach Sang Show, where they discussed the surprising origin story behind "Dirty Little Secret."
This song was part of their second studio album, Move Along, where it was the lead single. It's currently got almost half a billion streams on Spotify alone. So it's done pretty damn well. When speaking with the Zach Sang Show, the host asks the band about the song.
Tyson Ritter, the singer, says, "[Dirty Little Secret] was like, it was written as this kind of country, acoustic song. Like it used to swing," he then demonstrated how it used to sound. And although it's the same riff, it's completely transformed with the added swing.
"We're like, let's just make this possible to see what this feels like as a rock, sort of, interpolation or something. And then it worked, it was just that easy," he continued to explain.
Amazingly, two fans saw this clip, and thought to perform a faithful country rendition of "Dirty Little Secret." And it's amazing.
"Dirty Little Secret" Doubles As A Rock Song And A Better Country Song
Although it sounds amazing as a country song, it likely wouldn't gone as far as it did being one, which is the unfortunate truth.
All-American Rejects did respond to this country cover, by commenting, "Who are these divas? ??." So it seems they approve of the rendition.
"This needs to be on Spotify asap ?," writes another.
"I've always said that emo is just angsty country with minor chords," comments one, bringing forth what may be an uncomfortable truth to many.
Nick Wheeler, the guitarist, also expanded on the origin of the song. He laughed, "We were trying to s--t out songs real fast, so there was just acoustic guitar and a vocal. So the way I strummed [the riff], just made it sound like a s--ty Tom Petty B-side."
Whether you believe it should have been a country song or remained a rock song, the truth is, we're lucky to have them both.
