Billy Currington - Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right (2005)

** (of four)


This is a new breed of country video, one where the singer writhes around on the wet sands of a tropical beach with his shirt open, frolics with a rented model and - GOD DAMN! - doesn't even wear a cowboy hat. If this doesn't scream "VH1 Crossover Potential!" or "Blatant Chris Isaak Ripoff!" I don't know what does. And, yeah, after reaching #1 on the country chart, "Somethin' Right" cracked the pop Top 40. I do mean cracked - it peaked at #39.

Yeah, this video is a retread of Isaak's "Wicked Game," only the song's not too entertaining ("Lean into my kiss and close those deep-blue, need-you eyes"), Billy Currington's a little too self-consciously hunky for his own good (and he's really not that built or good-looking, either), and the cinematography is nowhere near the smoke-filled, black-and-white brilliance of the 1991 Herb Ritts video it rips off. Not to mention, Currington's rented model is no topless Helena Christensen.

So, sorry Billy, top of the country charts or not, you're not really doing anything right here.