"Real" is a song written by

Neal Coty Neal Lee Angleberger (born May 13, 1964), known professionally as Neal Coty, is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released two albums for Mercury Records Nashville, and has written several singles for other artists. Biograp ...

and Jimmy Melton and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

James Wesley James Wesley Prosser (born March 9, 1970) is an American country music singer. In 1999, Prosser released the album ''Life Goes On'' through Warner Bros. Records. Ten years later, he signed to Broken Bow Records under the name James Wesley. Wesle ...

. It was released in May 2010, and it peaked at number 22 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs in 2011.

Background and writing

Wesley told Engine 145 that when he heard the song for the first time, he immediately related with its sentiments. "I know what it’s like to try to make a dollar and beat the check to the bank," Wesley said. "It hit me… that’s where I’ve been. I did that up until a year ago."

Content

The first verse discusses how so-called

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

shows such as '' The Bachelor'' or ''

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

'' are pedaled as real examples of love when they’re anything but. The chorus then goes on to show off everything that is really real in life. The second verse and chorus, focused mostly on

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

, compares popular reality show titles (''

The Real Housewives ''The Real Housewives'' is an international reality television franchise that consists of 57 programs; 11 American installments, 20 international installments and 26 spin-offs. Most of the franchise documents the personal and professional lives ...

'', '' Survivor'' and ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'') with real-life situations like a

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s and

check fraud Cheque fraud (Commonwealth English), or check fraud (American English), refers to a category of criminal acts that involve making the unlawful use of cheques in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the account balanc ...

. The coda continues with this theme as the real-life comparisons get increasingly more stark: offshoring of jobs to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, family homelessness presumably stemming from

spousal abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...

, home foreclosure and finally the death of a military serviceman.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song four stars out of five, saying that the song is "instantly relatable to anyone who takes a chance to really listen to the lyrics." He goes on to say that it "never feels pandering and instead sounds like something that everyone has thought about ‘reality TV’ shows since their mainstream arrival a decade ago."

Music video

The video was directed by Chris Hicky and premiered in September 2010.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

{{reflist 2010 singles James Wesley songs Songs written by Neal Coty BBR Music Group singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky Songs about television 2010 songs