Song #52: Toby Keith - "How Do You Like Me Now?!"

Song #52: Toby Keith - "How Do You Like Me Now?!" (1999)

How Do You Like Now?!

"I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about living in your radio; how do you like me now?!"

Toby Keith's relatively forgotten hit song from the late nineties "How Do You Like Me Now?!" centers on a subject we don't hear or see a lot in music or film, which is where someone is after their "peak" years in high school or college. We usually see them in their prime, talking about how they'll be when they're older and how the other person, who is usually a jock or a stuck-up cheerleader, won't be anywhere, but rarely do we actually see what the other person makes of him or herself.

"How Do You Like Me Now?" is sung from the point-of-view of the goof-off in high school, as he makes evident in the opening line, about how he was a crazy one, who broke into the stadium and wrote the perfect valedictorian's number on the fifty-yard-line of the bleachers as a fun little joke. She brushed him off, despite him also being quite nice and friendly to her. Not to mention, she didn't think he'd make anything of himself, being a raucous guitar player and slacker all throughout high school. Fast-forward a few years, and you have a famous singer, looking back on the valedictorian and laughing about her lack of faith in his dreams and how he has become monstrously successful, while her life is still in limbo.

Keith has publicly stated that this song is like a theme song or an anthem to those who have tried and grieved to make something of themselves when somebody - be it a boss, coworker, family member, an old flame, etc - came in their way and said they couldn't do it. This song is like a mature, valid way to laugh in their face. The song was a huge winner for me at age four, especially seeing as I wound up buying the cassette tape from Wal-Mart and kept it in the collection of cassettes in my mom's car, as I've mentioned before. Not to mention, the tune has a subtly different sound than most of Toby Keith's other songs, with a more humbling and relaxed Keith, up until the obligatory chorus chimes in, giving the song more of a rowdy, twangy-country edge. All I can say is I'm hoping this song will be somewhat effective in future years for me on a personal level; consider this particular song one I'm saving for later.

Give "How Do You Like Me Now?!" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7jDzeCJ9ZI