"What We Ain't Got" is a song recorded by 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 ...

artist

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This album produced three ...

. It was released in August 2014 as the third and final single from his fourth studio album ''

Days of Gold ''Days of Gold'' is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Jake Owen. It was released on December 3, 2013 via RCA Nashville. The album's track listing was announced on October 9, 2013. It garnered a positive reception from criti ...

''. The song, written by Travis Meadows and Travis Jerome Goff, has Owen yearning for a former love, thinking of others wanting what's out of their reach. It garnered positive reviews from critics praising the lyrical work and Owen's vocal delivery of them. "What We Ain't Got" peaked at numbers 14 and 19 on both the ''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, ...

and

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. ...

charts respectively. It also reached number 89 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart, and has sold 369,000 copies in the United States as of May 2015. The song received similar chart success in Canada, reaching the top 40 of the

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart at number 30 and number 90 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 ...

chart. A music video directed by Mason Dixon was created for the single.

Content

"What We Ain't Got" is a ballad accompanied mainly by piano, with backing vocals by

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

. In it, Owen sings about wanting back a loved one who has left him, and reflecting on those who want what they cannot obtain. It is performed in the Key of

A Major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...

. It is in alternating bars of 3/4 and 4/4

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

s, with a main chord pattern of A-D-A-D-E-D-E-Fm-A/E-D-E4-A. The song's approximate tempo is 63

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

, and it has a vocal range of F-E. Owen told ''

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 ...

'' said that he knew the song would be a "risk" to release as a single, as he usually releases up-tempo songs about partying and "fought" to release a song with a stronger subject matter. He told the publication that "I'm at a point in my life where it's important to me to release songs like this that I've always believed in".

Reception

Critical

Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B+, saying that "Though the song starts a bit too slowly, it develops into a fully realized performance that's as good as anything I've heard this year from a radio artist." Markos Papadatos of ''Digital Journal'' rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising the lyrics and Owen's "rich yet haunting baritone vocals." He also thought that the song contrasted with party-themed songs on the corresponding album and displayed Owen's musical versatility. In 2017, ''

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 ...

'' contributor

Chuck Dauphin Charles Frederick Dauphin III (February 17, 1974 – September 18, 2019) was an American sports and country music journalist. He was a radio broadcaster for WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee for 18 years, a radio show host and sports director at WNKX i ...

put "What We Ain't Got" at number four on his top 10 list of Owen's best songs.

Commercial

"What We Ain't Got" entered the Hot Country Songs chart at number 40 on December 14, 2013 on the release of the album, ''Days of Gold''. It entered the Country Airplay chart on August 9, 2014, and peaked at number 14 in early 2015, and at number 19 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song has sold 369,000 copies in the US as of May 2015.

Music video

The music video was directed by Mason Dixon and premiered in November 2014.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

{{Jake Owen 2013 songs 2014 singles Country ballads 2010s ballads Jake Owen songs RCA Records Nashville singles Song recordings produced by Joey Moi Songs written by Travis Meadows