New artists always remember.
When someone asks where they were the first time they heard themselves on the radio, they can usually give you the specifics.
For Tucker Beathard, the first time he heard his debut country song “Rock On” on the radio he was just out getting something to eat.
“I was in the parking lot of an In-N-Out Burger in Phoenix, Arizona,” Beathard told me when we caught up in Chicago recently. “And it was a dream come true, just a really special moment. I was with some other people, so they cranked it up and we kind of soaked in that moment together.”
But seeing himself in his video for the song wasn’t quite the same.
“It’s tough to watch, to be honest,” he admitted. “Hearing myself on the radio is awesome, but seeing yourself on camera is kind of like, ‘There I am.’ I thought that if I had to be seen, it would just be me with my band. I didn’t want to be some main character who was totally in this.”
Fun fact: the main character who is totally in this video is the sister of Thomas Rhett’s wife Lauren.
The video reveals how social media can create such an unreal reality. So when Beathard sees his ex “killin’ it way out west,” he’s really just seeing what’s in her Instagram pictures — not what’s behind them. What’s behind them is that she’s working her ass off, living in a crappy apartment and supporting her new deadbeat boyfriend.
The picture the video paints is so perfect for Beathard because of his quiet nature both on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and in real life. “I’ve just never been a huge fan of social media,” he said.
Alison Bonaguro