Jason Aldean opened up about how he sees himself and his career in the next 20 years in an exclusive interview with Life & Style.
“I hope in 20 years I’m still rocking. But I could be swinging in a chair on the porch,” Jason, 47, told Life & Style at the iHeartCountry Festival on May 4, held at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. “We’ll see. I hope it’s me.”
Jason also reflected on his impressive career, which has spanned more than two decades. While he is now one of the most successful artists in country music, the “Got What I Got” singer previously gave himself six months to have his big break when he was in the early stages of his career 20 years ago.
“That time really kind of changed my life. I mean, it would’ve been very easy for me to go home and none of this stuff ever happened,” he said about his decision to pursue a career as a professional musician. “I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason and I feel that way about my situation and just glad that, you know, I was in a situation to be able to stick it out long enough for all this stuff to take off because it could have very well not been the case.”
Jason has been open about the ups and downs in his career, and previously reflected on a moment when he felt like he found his niche as an artist when he released his My Kinda Party album in 2010.
“I went in … I don’t think we played any songs for the label at all. I think we just went in and cut that whole album and then when it was done we were like, ‘Here’s your record,’” he recalled about the process of making the album during a November 2023 conversation with Taste of Country. “It didn’t sit too well with everybody at the label at first, but that album ended up doing so well that I think it gave me a little more street cred with the label.”
Jason said it’s been “the same kind of thing” for how he creates music moving forward. “We’d go make the record and it was like, ‘Here’s the singles. Here’s the first one, second one, don’t really know what the third and fourth are gonna be yet,’” he shared. “As an artist, you hope to get to that point where you get to be an artist.”
“I don’t personally like playing my songs for the label before we cut them, because everybody is gonna have a different opinion,” the “If I Didn’t Love You” singer continued. “This person is gonna like that song — that person is gonna like a different song. Everybody is gonna have different opinions of what the singles are, and then that kind of gets in my head.”