Kid Rock has released a video for First Kiss, taken from the forthcoming album of the same name. The album is released on February 23, and is the follow-up to 2012’s Rebel Soul.
The song reminisces about youthful love and includes a reference to Kid Rock’s own first crush. But is she real? We asked.
Who was Jenny Clayton?
“Jenny Clayton was a girl that rhymed really well with the song! That was my hip-hop shit: ‘I remember wait-in’ on the school-bus/ Jenny Clay-ton was my 1st crush’. I tried to use some of the things I learned about rhyme-schemes in hip-hop in the stuff I’m doing now. Like Rick Rubin said, the more words you can rhyme, the better it’s going to be at catching people’s attention real fast. So you can sneak in something like that, rather than have them dig up some girl who really was my first kiss and fucking hound her. Good luck on finding Jenny Clayton!”
Did you look back on [his small-town Michigan home village] Romeo pretty fondly now?
“Yeah. After being successful, everything seems like it was okay. All the hard times and whatever they were, they seem to make a lot of sense. I think most people look back and remember, as Bruce Springsteen said, the glory days”.
Did days go slow for you there? Are you the kind of guy who would always be frustrated in a small town?
“I definitely did not want to be in a small town at that point. It’s funny now — where I like to spend a lot of my time in Alabama is one of the smallest towns in America! But obviously, things change, and I really enjoy that.”
The Ultimate First Kiss Bundle can be pre-ordered now. It includes a hip flask, t-shirt, shot glasses, paying cards, poker chips and a bottle opener.