Jacob Chacko’s Control My Ride opens with a kind of groove that immediately takes you back — somewhere between Ice Ice Baby and Teenage Dirtbag. It leans on that late 90s mix of pop, rock, and a touch of blues, the kind of rhythm that makes you want to roll the windows down and just drive.
The track sits inside Chacko’s third album Give Me The Good Stuff, a collection that reaches across pop, rock, gospel, and country. You can hear how carefully it’s been built. The drums stay clean, keeping a steady pace without crowding the vocals. The guitar takes the lead where it needs to, sliding between warm chords and riffs that flirt with blues. It’s the kind of arrangement that feels deliberate but never overworked. The choices are tasteful, you don’t need to be into gospel rock to enjoy it because the production keeps it rooted in something universally listenable.
“It’s about my pride, I’m going to control my stride,” he sings, and that’s where the song finds its meaning. Pride, one of the oldest sins, becomes here something to master rather than destroy. There’s a gospel quality to that confession, an inner reckoning told through rhythm and melody. But the song doesn’t preach. There’s a gospel undertone to that message, the same kind of quiet surrender you hear in Jesus Take the Wheel. It’s about letting go of control while still keeping faith in your own direction.
The guitars and drums bring a kind of road-trip nostalgia, sunlight and motion in equal parts. It’s a song you remember occasionally, and when you do, it takes you right back to that drive, chasing the sun with the radio on.
