Looking Back at Where Sugarland ‘Jumped the Shark’

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush were on a roll. You could only hope to contain them. Then, it just seems like they let the fame and the ‘We can do anything’ attitude get to them- they ‘jumped the shark’ as they say, and Sugarland hasn’t been the same since. Not since that song. That one song.

The mid-to-late 2000s were good to Sugarland. Lots of hits: ‘Settlin’’, ‘All I Want To Do’, ‘Something More’, ‘Want To’, ‘Stay.’ Awards: Including ACM Vocal Duo of the Year, CMA Vocal Duo of the Year, ACM Single and Song of the Year (Stay). They even won a Grammy for Best Country Song (Stay). Everybody loved them!

Then, they just kind of dropped away. Sure, they’re still a duo; but they are on a hiatus, pursuing solo stuff. They’ll return, but I don’t think to their former glory- that kind of magic is hard to recapture. What happened?

I was listening to the radio the other day, and “Stuck Like Glue” came on. I said to myself, 'This is where they jumped the shark!’ and I believe it’s true. Listen to the song- with that reggae/rapping in the middle… yuck. Watch the video- an overdone tribute to stalking. This is where they 'jumped' that ol' shark and began their decline. Sure, the video has over 26 million views, but that’s nowhere near ‘Stay’s’ 46 million views.

Then, look at what songs came after ‘Stuck Like Glue’- zip. Nada. Zilch. OK- they did release “Little Miss’ and ‘Tonight’ from that last album ‘The Incredible Machine,’ but I don’t think anybody’s missing those songs, at all.

Take another listen and look at 'Stuck Like Glue' -

My guess is that with all the success leading up to making the album ‘The Incredible Machine,’ Jennifer and Kristian’s egos got enlarged, and there was no one around them telling them to tap the crazy brakes and a weird album got released. When you add the horrible Indiana State Fair accident into the equation, you can see where maybe public sentiment towards the band started to wane.

Maybe they’ll be back, maybe they won’t. But, like The Fonz, things just won’t be the same. ‘