"What Do You Want" is a song co-written 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

Jerrod Niemann Jerrod Lee Niemann (born July 24, 1979) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one single for Category 5 Records (2006); three albums for Sea Gayle Music/Arista Nashville: ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'' (2010), ''F ...

. It was released in October 2010 as the second single from his album ''

Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'' is the third studio album by American country music singer Jerrod Niemann. It was released July 13, 2010 (see 2010 in country music) via Sea Gayle Music and Arista Nashville. It is his first major-label album, fol ...

''. The song is his second top 40 hit on the Hot Country Songs charts, following his number-one single " Lover, Lover".

Content

The song is about a phone call received from a former girlfriend with whom the narrator has broken up. In an interview with CMT, he said that he wrote the song from an experience he had with a former girlfriend who had moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He said that after breaking up with her, writing "What Do You Want" helped him "climb out of the funk". The song features acoustic guitar, percussion and an organ. Niemann wrote it with Richie Brown and Rachel Bradshaw, the daughter of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

quarterback

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

, who also sings a backing vocal on it.

Critical reception

Karlie Justus of ''Engine 145'' gave the song a "thumbs up" in her review. She said that the song "relies on emotion over production" and thought that the lyrics and production had "oddly comforting repetition". Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' rated the song four stars out of five, calling it a "moody, emotive piece of music" and thought that it showed Niemann's voice more strongly than "Lover, Lover" did.

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Chris Hicky, was filmed at a mansion in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. It was recorded in black and white. Niemann said that the video is "sort of abstract" because he wanted to leave parts of the storyline to the viewer's imagination. Rachel Bradshaw also plays the girlfriend in the video.

Chart performance

"What Do You Want" debuted at number 49 on the Hot Country Songs chart dated for the week ending October 9, 2010. The song is Niemann's second top 40 hit on this chart. In April 2011, the song received a

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certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. That same month, it peaked at number 4 on the country chart.

Year-end charts

References

{{Jerrod Niemann 2010 singles Jerrod Niemann songs Arista Nashville singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky Songs written by Jerrod Niemann 2010 songs