In November, Luke Bryan dropped his new single “Fast,” off of his album Kill the Lights. True to its name, “Fast” is quickly gaining traction in the country music community and is well on its way to becoming a major hit.
But a little change had to take place before Bryan would let the song hit the airwaves.
The hot song was co-written by Bryan, Rodney Clawson, and Luke Laird. While the song is named “Fast,” it is actually more of a slow song, similar in style to Bryan’s previous hit, “Strip it Down.”
At the beginning of the song, Bryan sings about the things that typically come to mind when you hear the word “fast.” He sings of a love for fast cars, a desire to have fast runners on a football time, and a drive to achieve your dreams at a fast pace.
As the song continues, Bryan sings about falling in love with someone fast. But despite the quick jump into love, Bryan sings that they are still together after all this time. Now, Bryan sings that it’s time itself that seems to be going too fast.
With “Fast” quickly speeding up the charts, it has the power to reach a massive audience, including young children. This is something Bryan was well-aware of when he wrote the song. Because of this, Bryan made the decision to change part of the song to make it more family-friendly.
Bryan spoke about that change during an interview with Billboard for its January 3 newsletter. He said there was originally a curse word in the song that he didn’t feel comfortable leaving in it. Knowing that children would hear “Fast” playing on the radio, he switched out the word to make it more appropriate.
The lyric that Bryan changed originally went, “Damn, it just goes too fast.” But Bryan made the choice to change it to “Man, it just goes too fast.” He explained his reasoning during his interview:
“It’s one thing to write [‘damn’] in there. But then to think of the reality that kids are going to be hearing it, it’s better if you can find an alternative word where you don’t lose your punch, and I felt like ‘man’ certainly did that.”
We have to agree with him, “Fast” still packs a powerful punch, even with the change in wording! Tune in to the audio clip to give the song a listen!