"Real Life" is a song written by Shane McAnally,

Josh Osborne Josh Osborne (born c. 1980) is an American songwriter with several number-one singles to his credit. Early life Josh Osborne was born in Pike County, Kentucky, and raised in Virgie, Kentucky. Osborne grew up on US 23, renamed Country Music High ...

Ashley Gorley Ashley Glenn Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 60 number 1 songs and has over 300 songs recorded by artists including ...

, and

Ross Copperman Ross Copperman (born October 1, 1982) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter and producer with 29 number one radio hits. After his experience as an artist in the UK, Copperman discovered his talent for writing and producing country mus ...

, and recorded by American country music artist Jake Owen. It was originally released as the lead single to his upcoming fifth studio album ''

American Love ''American Love'' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Jake Owen. It was released on July 29, 2016, through RCA Nashville. It includes the #1 single "American Country Love Song". Reception AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewi ...

'', but was scrapped in a restructuring of the album after it stalled at number 17 on Country Airplay for several weeks.

Content

Owen told ''

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 advertise ...

'' and '' Rolling Stone'' that the idea for the song came when he discussed his favorite artists with songwriter-producers Shane McAnally and

, mentioning

Sublime Sublime may refer to: Entertainment * SuBLime, a comic imprint of Viz Media for BL manga * Sublime (band), an American ska punk band ** ''Sublime'' (album), 1996 * ''Sublime'' (film), a 2007 horror film * SubLime FM, a Dutch radio station dedic ...

and Sugar Ray in particular. He also said that he wanted to record a song that differed from his usual beach-related themes, such as " Beachin'" or " The One That Got Away", and that he wanted McAnally and Copperman to give him a song about "real-life situations". McAnally and Copperman, who produced the song, wrote it with

and

. It features "relentless acoustic rhythm" and "strange gang vocals and a series of odd-but-familiar images from small-town America: prom queens in plastic crowns, amateurish bar bands and rude Waffle House waitresses." According to Owen, the song is thematically about how "In a world of materialistic things, everybody is constantly looking for what they don't have, as opposed to looking for what's real and what you have right in front of you. That's what '

What We Ain't Got "What We Ain't Got" is a song recorded by American country music artist Jake Owen. It was released in August 2014 as the third and final single from his fourth studio album ''Days of Gold''. The song, written by Travis Meadows and Travis Jerome Gof ...

' touched on…'Real Life' is about what we've got and what's real to us."

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of '' Taste of Country'' gave the song a positive review, saying that "Sonically, the arrangement complements the languid, kind of adolescent nature of his lyric and delivery. Owen’s brand of nostalgia isn’t poignant. He’s more recalling the rebellious nature of youth in a way that’s more specific to suburbian(sic) kids that country kids. That’s not to say his songwriting team is lazy with the lyrics — they make clever references throughout “Real Life” and rely on specific, yet somehow universal stories."

Commercial performance

The song debuted on the Hot Country Songs at number 27 and Country Airplay at number 29 on its released. It also debuted on the Country Digital Songs chart at number 6, selling 29,000 copies in the week. Sales figure give
here
/ref> It peaked at number 17 on both Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay for charts of August 15, 2015. The song had sold 274,000 copies in the US as of October 2015.

Music video

The music video was directed by Jeff Venable and premiered in June 2015. NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick appears in the video.

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Jake Owen 2015 songs 2015 singles Jake Owen songs RCA Records Nashville singles Songs written by Ross Copperman Songs written by Ashley Gorley Songs written by Shane McAnally Songs written by Josh Osborne Song recordings produced by Shane McAnally