Some songs are complicated. Some aren’t.
As you might have guessed from the title of Florida Georgia Line’s latest single, “Simple” lands in the latter category.
This boot-stompin’, banjo-filled effort—which draws stylistic inspiration from the likes of folk rockers such as the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons, adding a little country-approved Southern twang—focuses on a “simple” subject: the rewards of romance when you know it’s right.
“Simple” begins with visual snapshots and metaphors that capture the strength of this couple’s connection. “The way your fingers fit in mine/It’s five plus five, not rocket science.” Then we hear, “The road we’re on ain’t a traffic jam/It’s a Sunday drive on a piece of land/It’s paradise as long as I’m with you.”
Things never get more complicated than that. But the country duo of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard do give us more of the same. “I met you, and you met me/And all the rest is history, an epiphany.” As for their relationship now, “It’s like one, two, three/Just as easy as can be.”
We also hear, “Just the way you look at me/You make me smile.” No wonder they repeatedly say, “It’s just that simple/ … Ain’t no need to complicate it.”
And for the most part, there aren’t too many complications to spoil the earnest, romantic goodness that saturates “Simple.” But we do have a couple to point out.
The most obvious problem is a lone mild profanity: “We used to live on Instagram/Worry ’bout who all gives a d–n.” And wordplay in another line could be heard as a sly reference to physical intimacy: “Like laughin’ love, make a lot out of a little.”
Now, by 2018 standards, those are minor missteps. Especially for a band that we’ve often called on the carpet before for much more glaring glorification of problematic behavior—from smoking marijuana to knocking back a few too many to ogling girls in bikinis.
There’s none of that kind of stuff here. Just a nice, sweet affirmation of the goodness of love … mixed with a couple of small stumbles that keep us from simply nodding in approval with everything else Florida Georgia Line sings about here.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
