It's finally here. Everyone's favorite faux country reality star is out with his "deeply personal" album after the break up with Miranda Lambert.
If I'm honest this isn't quite as bad as I expected, but it also isn't anywhere near good. The production on almost all the tracks is completely bland and adult contemporary. The lyrics for the majority are trite and boring if not outright cringe-worthy.
The album opens with "Straight Outta Cold Beer" which is just a word jumble of "Boys Round Here". Have you the one about the guy who drinks beer and likes to look at hot women? 1,000 times you say? Well make it 1,001. Don't worry. There are more later. He brings the Oak Ridge Boys in to sing a song that would amuse teenage boys. Not to mention the atrocious lead single "Came Here to Forget".
The next song, "She's Got a Way with Words" has drawn controversy and is also very very bad. A song like this in the right hands could work and the verses aren't half bad. The chorus is an example of cringe-worthy though. Full of vitrol and forced clichés, it is borderline unlistenable.
The album doesn't flow very well alternating between break up and hook up songs somewhat randomly and then a song from Angry Birds (Friends) and a rehashed song from an old album (Green).
The best song is the closer "Savior's Shadow". A stripped down gospel song has nice instrumentation and lyrics. Blake also tries on the vocals which is more than can said for most of the others. Country and gospel have a rich history together and this works well. It's also one of 3 songs Blake co-wrote out of 15 along with "Friends" and "Go Ahead and Break My Heart".
Yes, this "deeply personal" album is full of 12 songs that Blake had no part in creating. I definitely prefer artists who write their own songs, but it's not 100% necessary. George Strait knows how to pick a good one. Elvis also got pretty popular singing other people's songs. The whole point of this album though makes it hypocritical to pick a bunch of songs teams of Nashville writers wrote especially since the 3 Blake had a hand in are most of the better songs on the album (even if Go Ahead and Break My Heart isn't a country song)
The only thing deeply personal to Blake Shelton seems to be the amount of money he makes by releasing bland radio friendly singles and promoting his role in The Voice. If this album were filled with more songs like "Savior's Shadow" instead of a bunch of bro country and hook up songs, it may rate better. It's a cut above the Thomas Rhetts and FGLs but just barely. Blake Shelton has the talent to make good country music. I just wish he would.
3/10
No comments:
Post a Comment