Released July 21, 2008 Genre Country Label Curb | Format CD single Length 3:45 | |
Writer(s) Aimee Mayo
Bill Luther
Tom Douglas | ||
"Let It Go" is a song written by Aimee Mayo, Bill Luther and Tom Douglas, and performed by American country music singer Tim McGraw. It was released in July 2008 as the sixth single and title track from his album Let It Go. It was his forty-second Top 40 hit on the Billboard country charts.
Contents
Content
The song is a mid-tempo which describes a man's observation on his life and the "demons" that have been causing him personal discomfort. Ultimately, he convinces himself to "let it go" and improve his outlook on life.
Reception
The song received a "thumbs down" review from the country music site Engine 145. Reviewer Brady Vercher said, "The song avoids becoming a motivational sermon by having the narrator focus inward, upon himself, but all we learn is that he's trying to put the skeletons in his closet behind him and move on. Ultimately, without any sort of supporting story, the lyric is[…]generic enough to be applicable to nearly any situation." He also said that McGraw gave an "uninspired" vocal performance. Allmusic critic Thom Jurek described the song favorably in his review of the album, calling it "the real shock" of the album and saying that it "offer[s] a message of threadbare hope in the face of adversity. In the grain of his voice, you can hear the determination to talk and walk from the place of redemption rather than the terrain of suffering. He's singing to convince himself as much as he is the listener."
Chart positions
Before the release of "Let It Go", McGraw had reportedly announced in concert that he was planning to release a new album late in 2008. However, Curb Records decided to delay the album's release, and instead released "Let It Go" as the sixth single from Let It Go. The song debuted at number 59 on the Hot Country Songs charts dated for August 2, 2008, reaching a peak of number 2 on the chart week of December 6 and holding that position for two weeks.