The makings of a solid country song are scattered about on this new Luke Bryan single, but the song has been nearly polished to death.
“All we do right is make love/ We both know now that ain’t enough” is one of the best opening lines I’ve heard in a mainstream country single this year. (It’s right up there with “Ain’t no rain as cold as the look she just gave him” from Kellie Pickler’s “100 Proof”) Likewise, the line “Love me like you loved me when you loved me and you didn’t have to try” is both substantive and catchy, while set over an engaging minor-key melody.
A song like this could have been a huge winner if given the right treatment, but alas, enter a storm of mainstream Nashville overproduction – the work of producer and co-writer Jeff Stevens – to drown out the soul. Bryan sings over a cacophonous mess of thrashing guitars and crashing drums laid on so thick that it makes the song hard to listen to. It all culminates in a bridge that features some perfectly atrocious guitar-shredding that sounds like it was lifted right out of “I Don’t Want This Night to End.”
Bryan’s previous hit “Drunk On You” featured an arrangement that was thoroughly mainstream, but that still stayed out of the way enough to let the intimacy of the song shine through. Not here – a few strains of steel and mandolin put some much-needed cracks in the polish, but they aren’t enough to offset all the clutter in the overall mix. This song could have been good, but this endlessly distracting wall of noise doesn’t let it come anywhere close to its potential. Maybe someday we’ll be treated to an acoustic version…
Written by Luke Bryan, Jeff Stevens, and Shane McAnally
Grade: C+
Listen: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
…sounds like another luke bryan hit. typical vocals, typical production, typical radio friendliness – a cookie cutter bonanza of the the highest degree. it won’t get him into the cmhof, but onto all the playlists. also perfect, if you prefer the chesney musical experience without kenny.
I’ve kept thinking that they would release Faded Away as the next single since it seemed to fit within the story line they were developing (with the music videos), and that it’s one of the better songs on the album.
This one is pretty standard fare. I could do without the guitar solo thrown in towards the end, but other than that, I think the production is tolerable. It will be a hit, no doubts, and it’s thankfully not entirely without substance. So at least there’s that…
I love this song. I” am happy it going on the
radio. the tailgates and tanlines cd is good.
I love all the songs.
l
I’ve always looked at Luke as the updated version of Tim McGraw, as I’ve always found his material akin to what was found on Everywhere and A Place In The Sun.
But I cannot support this. The overly grating rock guitars in the intro are awful, but the opening line, “All we do right is make love/We both know now that ain’t enough,” irks me to no end. There seems to be a newfound sexualization in top 40 country that I can’t recall being there prior to last year.
Sure there’ve been references to hot girls for years, but this newfound need of guys to sing about or hinting at having sex has been a turn off. The biggest culprits of this have been Jake Owen (“Slip your hand under my shirt”) and Luke.
This lyrical move makes sense, though, as it feeds into the 80s rock culture that’s invaded country, but I don’t need to hear songs with lines like “Take off your leavin’ dress/Let’s do what we do best/I guess everybody’s got their way of moving on/girl rest your head one more time in my bed.”
I think my biggest complaint isn’t the sexual situations themselves – countless songs like “Rainin’ On Sunday,” “Strawberry Wine,” “That Summer” and “Come A Little Closer” deal with sex in a very overt way, but the difference from those examples is modern country love songs seem to be approached from a frat boy point of view and not an adult point of view. In other words, driven from guys with just one thing on their minds (who just want women in their beds) opposed to mature adults who find romantic aspects within the sex. (Or in the case of Chris Young’s “Tomorrow” are driven by the overwhelming need to be together; even though it’s wrong).
Love songs in the vein of Young’s “You” and Easton Corbin’s “Lovin’ You Is Fun” are more the style that’s been around in country music for as long as I can remember, and they take a classy approach that’s been missing nowadays (and those are current, if not, pretty current singles).
I really did enjoy Luke’s previous two singles but “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” seems like a thematic regression back to “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” and that doesn’t do him any favors.
Also, I heard “Do I” on the radio today, and I don’t even recognize the person singing that song. The maturity he displayed on that is one I long to see him get back to.
The only real issue I have with this single (cue the “wait, he has issues with anything” crowd) is that the verses are really tiny and there are two of them and the chorus is repeated 3-4 times. It’s really a wham-bam-thank-you-mam type of song.
Will any of us remember this song in a year or two? Kinda like Rihanna’s singles on the pop charts…
I noticed that too. Almost mentioned it in the review but didn’t.
Holy run-on sentence Batman! I really didn’t see that run-on of “ands” until re-reading it now!
Still my view of the song is it’s much about nothing. Then again, it’s a melody/mood-inducing song, do we expect it to say anything interesting? ;)