"Bartender" is a song 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, ...

trio

Lady Antebellum Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar) ...

. Written by group members

Dave Haywood David Wesley Haywood (born July 5, 1982) is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals. Early life Haywood's fat ...

Charles Kelley Charles Burgess Kelley (born September 11, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and lead singer and founding member of the country music trio Lady A, which was formed in 2006 and are signed to Big Machine Records. Early life and career Kelle ...

, and

Hillary Scott Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum, a country music group that was formed in 2006, and is signed to Big Machine Records. ...

along with

Rodney Clawson Rodney Dale Clawson (born in Gruver, Texas, United States) is an American country music songwriter. Clawson has written singles recorded by Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill, George Strait and Luke Bryan, among others. Biography Clawson w ...

, and co-produced with Nathan Chapman, the song was released to country radio by

Capitol Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...

on May 12, 2014, as the lead single from the group's sixth studio album, '' 747'', and it features lead vocals from Scott. It was released to iTunes the following week, on May 19, 2014. In its first week at radio, "Bartender" was the second most-added song of the week (with 72), behind " Small Town Throwdown" by

Brantley Gilbert Brantley Keith Gilbert (born January 20, 1985) is an American country rock singer, songwriter and record producer from Jefferson, Georgia. He was originally signed to Colt Ford's label, Average Joes Entertainment, where he released ''Modern Day ...

featuring

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released six studio albums: his Justin Moore (album), self titled debut ...

and

Thomas Rhett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

Music video

The music video was directed by

Shane Drake Shane C. Drake is an American music video director and producer originally from Redding, California. He has directed videos for many artists, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Avril Lavigne, Trivium, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the ...

and premiered on the ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

'' on June 19, 2014. It co-stars model

Kate Upton Katherine Elizabeth Upton (born June 10, 1992) is an American model. She first appeared in the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and was the cover model for the 2012, 2013 and 2017 issues. In addition, she was the subject of the 10 ...

and ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

''/''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

'' actor

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series ''Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until its ...

Synopsis

The video begins with a woman (Upton) sitting in front of a

vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic s ...

, receiving a phone call from a friend (Scott). The friend invites her to go out to a bar together with some friends to "forget his name." At the bar they receive and go through many rounds challenges by the bartender (Hale). They beat the bartender and celebrate. There are cuts to performance scenes of the band during the video. All three members are performing in the

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

Live performances

Lady Antebellum debuted the song during the ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' season thirteen finale on May 21, 2014. Two days later on the 23, they performed the song on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

''. They have also performed "Bartender" on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'' and the 2014 ''

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

'' on June 4, 2014. They performed "Bartender" on CMA Festival: Country's Night on August 5, 2014. On September 30, 2014, the trio performed the song on the ''

''.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' rated the song four stars out of five and spoke positively of the "fresh, new sound" the group is exploring. "The sing-song-y nature of Bartender's bridge and chorusgive the song some bite and make it the kind of song that should've always followed up 'Need You Now" said Bjorke. "Bartender' starts a new and exciting chapter in Lady Antebellum's career and gives us something to really look forward to with their follow-up to last year's ''Golden''". Melinda Newman of ''

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

'' placed "Bartender" at number 4 (of 21) on the website's Top Summer Songs of 2014, writing that "the upbeat melody and the time-honored tradition of drinking to forget, not to mention the banjo at the end, make this tune too much fun to be a downer".

Chart performance

"Bartender" debuted at No. 43 on the ''Billboard''

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart for the week ending May 31, 2014, soon reaching the top spot. It also debuted at No. 40 on ''Billboard''

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen B ...

in November, their first song to manage crossing over to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

radio since " Just a Kiss" and reaching No. 25 to date. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on September 11, 2014 and was certified Platinum on September 23, 2014. The song reached its millionth sales mark in the US in November 2014, and as of January 2015, it has sold 1,118,000 downloads. Sales figures give
here
/ref> In Canada, the song was also certified Platinum, indicating digital downloads in excess of 80,000 units.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles Lady A songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Dave Haywood Songs written by Charles Kelley Songs written by Hillary Scott Songs written by Rodney Clawson Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer) 2014 songs Music videos directed by Shane Drake