"Keep It Simple" is a song recorded by Canadian

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 ...

group

James Barker Band The James Barker Band is a Canadian country group formed in Woodville, Ontario in 2013. The band consists of James Barker, Taylor Abram, Connor Stephen, and Bobby Martin. In Canada, they have six number one country singles with "Chills (James Bark ...

. It was the lead single off their second extended play '' Singles Only''. The track was co-written by the band's frontman James Barker, with Gavin Slate, Travis Wood, and the track's producer Todd Clark. It was the band's second #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' Canada Country chart, and won Single of the Year at the 2020 CCMA Awards.

Background

James Barker told ''Sounds Like Nashville'' that "The concept of it in summation, is all about having a night we don’t have to get wild. You just stay home and hang with your significant other,… have a night in and just, you know, do what couples do". He told ''Canadian Beats Media'' that with this song "we wanted to push the boundaries a bit, which is something we take pride in, so people can definitely expect it to be a little different from anything we’ve released before. A big thing that we take in to account with our music is how it’s going to translate live, and how it will affect our live show. Keep It Simple is really fun and upbeat, which, to me, means it’s going to be a blast when we play it live!".

Critical reception

Taryn McElheran of ''Canadian Beats Media'' said the track is a "grand tune that keeps in line with JBB’s musical works". Kerry Doole of ''FYI Music News'' said the "upbeat mood of the well-executed song mirrors lyrics extolling the virtues of Friday night fun - "Let's keep it simple, here at the house, dance in the kitchen, straight to kissing on the couch." Quite simply, it sounds like another hit".

Accolades

Commercial performance

"Keep It Simple" was certified Platinum by

Music Canada Music Canada is a non-profit Industry trade group, trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 in Toronto to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It also offers benefits to s ...

on August 27, 2020 with over 80,000 sales, their second Platinum certification overall. As of May 2021, the song had received over 19.7 million streams through

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Music video

The official music video for "Keep It Simple" was directed by Ben Knechtel and premiered February 19, 2019. The video features the band and is designed to appear as if it was the 1950s.

Chart performance

"Keep It Simple" reached a peak of number 1 on the ''Billboard''

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 dated June 1, 2019, their second chart topper after "

Chills Chills is a feeling of coldness occurring during a high fever, but sometimes is also a common symptom which occurs alone in specific people. It occurs during fever due to the release of cytokines and prostaglandins as part of the inflammatory ...

". It also peaked at number 87 on the ''Billboard''

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 ...

and is their highest charting entry there.

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2019 songs 2019 singles James Barker Band songs Universal Music Canada singles Canadian Country Music Association Single of the Year singles Songs written by James Barker (singer) Songs written by Todd Clark Songs written by Gavin Slate Songs written by Travis Wood (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Todd Clark