Country music superstar John Rich explained Wednesday what his number-one song “Progress” means and what his version of progress is for America.
Rich’s song “Progress” hit the number one spot within hours of being released, kicking pop star Lizzo from the position, he explained to radio host Joe Pags of The Joe Pags Show. The song focuses on the difference between what real Americans want from the future of the U.S. versus what our current politicians are pushing upon citizens under the guise of progress.
“The problem in our country right now is that feeling [freedom] is not being felt by many people right now, and we miss it,” Rich told Pags. The music video for “Progress” depicts both Rich’s version of progress and what he thinks many politicians believe to be progress. (RELATED: John Rich Has A Blunt Message For Progressives, And It’s About To Become An American Anthem)
“My version of progress is not fancy. It’s not expensive. My version of progress is ‘leave me the Hell alone, let me go work hard and fail if I want to and come back, and pursue happiness,'” Rich continued. “Their version of progress is ‘clamp down on everybody, destroy everything, and put you in such a position that you have to reach up for our help.’ That’s what I think they’re doing to us right now.”
Rich only released the track on Rumble and Truth Social because he didn’t want to be a hypocrite by using the systems he rails against in the song to achieve his end goal of having people listen to his music, he explained to Pags. Within six hours of the song being launched on Truth and Rumble, it reached the number one spot.
Rich noted that he hasn’t had a record deal or publishing deal for many years due to how liberal the music industry is, a sentiment he’s shared before over social media. He added that despite “Progress” being the #1 song on the Apple iTunes song chart, Rich claims that none of the country music stations will play the track right now.
You can watch the full interview with John Rich on the Joe Pags show below: