Chris Janson Reveals Why ‘Drunk Girl’ Video Brought Him to Tears

Chris Janson isn’t quick to cry, but he admits the video for his latest single, “Drunk Girl,” resulted in him unashamedly shedding a few tears.

The reason? The video was shot on the streets in downtown Nashville, right outside the same places Janson used to play, while trying to eke out a living.

“I shut down those bars, playing them my first year in town, and then to shut down the whole street … it was just very humbling,” Janson tells People.

The video shows Janson singing lines like, “Take a drunk girl home / Let her sleep all alone / Leave her keys on the counter, your number by the phone / Pick up her life she threw on the floor / Leave the hall lights on walk out and lock the door / That’s how she knows the difference between a boy and man /Take a drunk girl home,” in the middle of the street, while scenes flash of a young girl in an abusive home life, who grows up to be a young woman who has had too much to drink.

“We don’t ever want to offend anybody,” Janson says of the song, “but man, it’s almost a disservice if you don’t just bring light to some subjects that are so important and that don’t get talked about nearly as much as they should.”

The 32-year-old, who co-wrote “Drunk Girl” with Tom Douglas and Scooter Carusoe, wanted to address a serious topic affecting far too many people.

“Sometimes these things get swept under the rug,” he says. “Sometimes they get pushed so far back in the closet, nobody wants to look at it … Well guess what? It happens every day and it’s something to be thought about.”

It was Janson’s own children that became the inspiration for the thought-provoking tune.

“If our daughters ever got into that situation – and if you live very long, you’re probably going to get there — guys and girls alike — we would hope that a young man, if our daughters inevitably get there, that they would take great care of them with great respect, do the right thing, and take a drunk girl home,” Janson tells Billboard.

The Grand Ole Opry member knew early on that “Drunk Girl” would resonate with his fans.

“It’s drawing tears from people’s eyes, and pulling stories from men and women alike who might not have had a voice or a platform to talk about it,” shares Janson. “It’s amazing. It’s cool to see songs bring emotions out in people. It almost means more to me than getting played on the air – even when I just play it live.

“It reaches into peoples’ heartstrings and pulls on every single one of them,” he adds. “You’re probably going to have one too many one night, and this is going to happen. It’s hard to believe, but when you see it with everyday average people, but it’s very humbling, to say the least.”

Download “Drunk Girl” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: YouTube