I love every second of this.
I’ve had a fondness for Luke Bryan ever since his video for “Country Man.” There’s something both endearingly sincere and not quite serious about him.
Which is why I can’t help but love a romantic song with a chorus that opens, “Girl, you make my speakers go boom boom.” Bonus points for rhyming it with “mmm hmm.”
The template is generic country love song, but there’s a banjo floating in and out of there, making it actually sound both country and romantic. It doesn’t sound like a love scene being forced out into the country for genre purposes, so much as a love scene that just happens to be taking place in the country.
So yeah, Luke Bryan is pretty good. He might not be enough to save country music, but at least he’s helping it age with dignity and a sense of humor.
Written by Rodney Clawson, Josh Kear, and Chris Tompkins
Grade: A
Listen: Drunk on You
I like the production but the lyrics along with a lot of his song lyrics are a little been there, done that. I also think Luke Bryan is unintentionally corny with his music which I guess qualifies as a sense of humor. I would’ve probably gave this song a C just because it’s average, luckily the production saves it. But in honesty his singles haven’t really made me a fan, when I look back at them. Most of them are about being country (“Country Man” and “We Rode In Trucks”) or drunk (“All My Friends Say”). I found “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” off-putting mostly because the lyrics yet again paint women as sexual objects who are only good for looking sexy and dancing sexually for men. The only song by his that I have found decent is “Do I”.
I’m sure that sounded more harsh than I was intending but I really think the current crop of country men don’t really have anything to sing about besides how drunk they got last night, how country they are, and how they think their women are so dang hot. I’m going to shut up now and get back to listening “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
“There’s something both endearingly sincere and not quite serious about him.”
I agree. This manages to sound like both a parody of a Luke Bryan song and the most earnest Luke Bryan song ever. I wouldn’t give it an A, but definitely dig it.
That said, I don’t see this sticking out in his catalog the way it would if so many of his songs (especially the last two singles from this album) weren’t so similarly-themed.
Anyway, another terrific review.
So far I’m liking this one well enough, though I’m not in the “A” camp just yet. I tend to be slightly irritated that this is Bryan’s third consecutive single that has had a girl dancing in a pickup truck, but it has a warm and accessible melody, and I like the way he sings it. I’ll just have to see how it wears on me.
“Country Girl (Shake it for Me)” aside, I thought his album was one of the most “country” sounding mainstream releases of last year.
I’m a bit surprised that this was his single choice though. Everything seemed setup to release “Faded Away”. The time of year was appropriate (since the song mentions spring break/beaches), and if you watch his music videos, it seemed like a logical choice to fill in the ‘To Be Continued’ from “I Don’t Want This Night to End”.
I’m a bit surprised at your grade, only because the lyrics aren’t particularly original. But it’s a very catchy, smooth, enjoyable song, for sure.
…not too bad for a sequel, but a little too lazy for my taste. however, he really does these kind of songs very well and a twist of this guy’s natural charm would make jason aldean the next superstar.
slightly off-topic: just read about mitt romney’s late dog “seamus” driving to canada on the roof-rack – i’m slighly afraid that i ever shall look at leeann’s picture here in the same way as before. then again, “bolt” seemed to have liked mitten’s idea.
I give this an A as well and quite frankly I can’t seem to quit listening to it. It’s imo, his best single ever.
Well, that’s a wrap on Luke Bryan. Three consecutive songs all co-written by Luke, Dallas Davidson, and some Peach Picker or other and I’m seriously over Luke and his girl in a truck.
He went from fresh and original with “Rain…” and “Someone Else Calling…” to completely disposable radio cr*p in three short steps. I’m seriously, very disappointed.
RowdyRed: This current song is not written by Luke, Dallas Davidson et al.
I stand corrected. When I googled it, Davidson’s name came up somehow.
That still doesn’t alter my impression that Luke Bryan has run a once-is-enough theme into the ground. It’s not helping me that he seems to have decided that regardless of the writer, this is now his wheelhouse. In fact it kind of makes it worse (imo).
Anyone else inexplicably love the background vocals?
^ YES! Those strange, faint “Da da da da”s are my FAVORITE PART and I thought I was losing my mind.
What’s wrong with us?
I don’t really Like Luke Bryan that much – but this song is pretty catchy – thumbs up :)
Ha. I like that part too. It’s so random.:)
I’ll agree the production is engaging and Bryan’s charisma really shines here, but I too wouldn’t go so far as to give it an A, mostly because of the thematic redundancy (seriously, the “boom boom” lyric surfaced in “Country Girl” as well)
I understand the appeal of singles like this, however. Despite the mediocrity, even cring-inducing moments, of his songwriting……..Luke Bryan just strikes me as a strong entertainer. The annual “Spring Break” EP releases……….the catering to younger demographics with references to speakers going boom-boom and putting your hands in the air (“I Don’t Want This Night To End”)……..the swagger he shows in his movement onstage…………it just seems blatantly obvious his job is more to give large crowds danceable, feel-good anthems as opposed to making groundbreaking artistic statements. And he has been doing that resounding well.
Again, this is not an A-grade single in my view, but still a damn solid B+ I’d say.
RowdyRed, for the record, I loathed the preceding two singles.
While I understand the points made in the Mini-review feature for “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” here upon its posting, I still largely dissented from it. Sure, it was catchy………but it didn’t distract from the reality that its laughably awful faults were just as ostentatious as its hook. Awful, yet catchy, songs that garner stronger grades in my book have to have a way of “covering up” its glaring traumas by being sooooo catchy your mind doesn’t dwell on them. Not once when listening to “Country Girl (Shake It For Me”) have I not felt shame listening to it because of the inane lyrics and regurgitated stereotypes. It is a near-failing grade single, plain and simple………redeemed from an F only for its hook.
Then “I Don’t Want This Night To End”, in spite of its admittedly cinematic production appeal, just came across as absolutely creepy to me, in the same way a lot of dance-pop songs saturating Top 40 radio are: they perpetuate a dangerously misguided fantasy of meeting a stranger then, without words or tangible connection, instantly proceeding and surrendering to sex (or at least something further than sexual tension). It’s just an unsettling listen to my ears, and it doesn’t help the lyrics are pedestrian too and might as well have been selectively borrowed from Top 40 dance-pop songs.
This is different. I can listen to “Drunk On You” and embrace its escapism without feeling distracted or guilty in the process.