"Strip It Down" 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, o ...

artist

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Nashville in 2007 ...

. It was first released to digital retailers as the first

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

from his fifth studio album, '' Kill the Lights'' (2015), on July 17, 2015 and was released to radio on August 4, 2015 as the album's second official single. The song was written by Bryan,

Jon Nite Jon Nite (born March 19, 1980) is a Grammy-nominated, CMA and ACM award winning singer/songwriter who has written 16 No.1 hits. Nite's songs have been recorded by artists such as Charlie Puth, Keith Urban, Dan & Shay, Gabby Barrett, Luke Bryan, Br ...

and

Ross Copperman Ross Copperman (born October 1, 1982) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter and producer with 29 number one radio hits. After his experience as an artist in the UK, Copperman discovered his talent for writing and producing country mus ...

, and produced by

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

and Jody Stevens.

Critical reception

Leeann Ward, reviewing the song for ''Country Universe'', gave the song a D+ grade, saying that it "is just another in a long string of his own singles that has been stripped of any country elements. The only aspects of the song that keep it from being a straight up pop single is its arbitrary reference to cowboy boots and that Bryan’s interesting but thin voice has more nasal than a typical pop singer’s voice." Website ''

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 ...

'' was more favorable, saying, "'Kick the Dust Up' was a new take on a well-tested sound for Bryan. More of the same from this new album would have signaled a career on a plateau. “Strip It Down” ensures this two-time Entertainer of the Year’s career remains on the rise."

Commercial performance

Based on pre-order downloads for '' Kill The Lights'' in advance of the album's release, the song debuted at number 19 on the Hot Country Songs chart, number 81 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, and at number 5 on the Country Digital Songs chart, selling 44,000 copies. The song has sold 779,000 copies in the US as of February 2016. It was certified 2x Multi-Platinum by

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in August 2017, indicating US sales of over 2,000,000.

Music video

A lyric video for the song was uploaded to Bryan's

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

account on July 17, 2015 in conjunction with the song's digital debut. The music video was directed by

Shaun Silva Shaun Silva is a music video director who works primarily in the country music field. He has directed a number of music videos for many country music artists, including many of Kenny Chesney's music videos. His other clients include Jason Aldean, ...

and premiered in October 2015. The lyric video features various couples making love with each other on a smoky grey background as the lyrics appear on the screen in black (and white) blood-like writing. The music video begins as a city man and a farmer, by phone, agree to meet up. At a gas station, both men trade keys for their vehicles, a luxury sedan and a pickup truck, and set off in opposite directions. Meanwhile, two women, Abbi and Malone, come home to find letters and shoes. After reading the letters, both women dress up, Malone dressing up in jeans and wearing her boots, while Abbi dons a dress and begins wearing her tip toe shoes. After both men pick up the women, both couples enjoy their romantic evening, the version of it depending on the setting.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2015 singles 2015 songs Country ballads 2010s ballads Capitol Records Nashville singles Luke Bryan songs Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Songs written by Jeff Stevens (singer) Songs written by Jon Nite Songs written by Luke Bryan