Highway Don't Care
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"Highway Don't Care" is a song by the American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singers
Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...
and
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
, featuring
Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...
on guitar. It was released to US
country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. T ...
on March 25, 2013, as the third single from McGraw's first album for
Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...
, '' Two Lanes of Freedom'' (2013). The song was written by Mark Irwin,
Josh Kear Josh Kear is a multi-Grammy Award winning songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2007, Kear co-wrote Carrie Underwood's hit " Before He Cheats" with Chris Tompkins. The song dominated the US Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks and earned ...
and Brad and Brett Warren. McGraw and Swift recorded their parts separately. This is Swift's seventh number one hit on ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...
chart.


Composition

The song is a mid-tempo ballad where the male narrator is separated from his lover who is driving. Throughout the verses, he tells her what he "bets" she is feeling, when a song comes on her radio (its part sung by Swift) containing the lines "I can't live without you, baby." He also says that the highway she's driving on doesn't care if she's alone or if she's going home, but he does. The song is in
D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...
with a main chord pattern of D-B7-G-A.
Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...
plays lead guitar on it.


Critical reception

In his review of the album, Thom Jurek of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "the hook is irresistible and McGraw's vocal, paired with the young singer's, is a perfect match." Chuck Dauphin of ''Roughstock'' also reviewed the song favorably, saying that "this song flows well, with winning performances from two of the format's top vocalists." Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song five stars saying that the track is arguably "one of the best collaborations of the decade – maybe even ever. Each artist brings his or her best effort to the song from McGraw's '' Two Lanes of Freedom'' album. 'Highway Don't Care' feels like a special moment from the very first listen, and only becomes more cathartic with time." Jeff Benjamin of Fuse said the track has "major crossover potential". The song was ranked 30th best country song of the 2010s by
Taste Of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
.


Accolades


Chart performance

"Highway Don't Care" debuted at number 13 on the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart and number 43 on the US ''Billboard''
Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...
chart for the week of February 23, 2013, due to unsolicited airplay seven weeks before being released to radio. It also debuted at number 59 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 23 on the
Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...
for the week of February 23, 2013. The single also debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Country Digital Songs chart with 86,000 downloads for the week of February 13, 2013. On October 17, 2017, the single was certified
triple platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales and streaming data of over three million units. As of November 2017, the song has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States.


Music video

The music video was directed by Shane Drake and premiered on May 6, 2013. The music video for the song features Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban, as well as actors portraying the song's narrator and his lover. It was made in partnership with
Vanderbilt University Medical Center The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a medical provider with multiple hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as clinics and facilities throughout Middle Tennessee. VUMC is an independent non-profit organization, but maintains a ...
in Nashville, Tennessee and highlights the dangers of driving while distracted, particularly texting and driving. In the video, the narrator's lover mentioned in the song is driving, crying, and texting the narrator. After dropping her phone and trying to retrieve it, she drifts into the wrong lane while reaching across her car and collides with oncoming traffic. She is then airlifted by a Vanderbilt LifeFlight helicopter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she is treated in the Adult Emergency Department. The video implies that she survives as the doctor comes out to see the girl's parents and the narrator, after which they are seen smiling happily and embracing that their daughter's going to be okay. The structure of the video at first seems to imply that Tim McGraw (as the singer/narrator and a character in the video) is the boyfriend who keeps being texted by the female driver. Upon the LifeFlight helicopter arriving at the hospital, the viewer realizes that Tim McGraw's character is actually the physician who saves the driver's life, and the texts he had been receiving earlier in the video were from the hospital paging/notifying him about this emergency. Taylor Swift was standing in the bedroom-curtain. Keith Urban was standing on the beach.


Official versions

* Album version (4:36) * Radio edit (4:14) * Duet with Brazilian singer
Paula Fernandes Paula Fernandes de Souza (; born August 28, 1984, in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. She won Latin Grammy Awards for her albums ''Amanhecer'' in 2016 and for ''Origens (Ao Vivo em Sete Lagoas)'' in 2020. Biograph ...
, a '' Porglish'' version (4:38)


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

{{authority control 2013 songs 2013 singles 2010s ballads Tim McGraw songs Taylor Swift songs Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Josh Kear Songs written by the Warren Brothers Songs written by Mark Irwin (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Song recordings produced by Tim McGraw Music videos directed by Shane Drake Country ballads Big Machine Records singles Vehicle wreck ballads Vocal–instrumental collaborations