Seventeen-year-0ld Red Bow Records newcomer Rachel Farley is already making inroads at country radio with this recently released debut single, which was the #1 most added song on the Billboard and Mediabase charts for the week of its release.
The lyrics of “Ain’t Easy” don’t say a whole lot that hasn’t been said before. Lines such as “Fight like hell
and love like an angel, pray like a saint and run like a rebel,” aren’t especially novel, though the rural rebel theme is one more often visited by male artists than females.
But the performance goes a long way toward lifting the song to a higher level. Farley sells the lyric with a vocal delivery of far more depth, fullness, and expressiveness than one would typically expect from an artist still in her teens, delivering the verses with a low simmering intensity and imbuing added punch to the chorus. Had I not known, I would never have guessed that Rachel Farley was only seventeen years old based on this performance.
The production is not particularly country, but it strikes a fitting balance of being forceful without being overpowering – a welcome trait for any country radio hit to have. That along with the confident vocal causes the single to feel like more than the sum of its parts.
“Ain’t Easy” isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but what does get right makes me eager to hear more from the artist behind it. There aren’t many debut singles that elicit such a response in me these days.
Written by Rachel Farley
Grade: B
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