“Legends”
Kelsea Ballerini
Written by Kelsea Ballerini, Hillary Lindsey, and Glen Whitehead
There is nothing legendary about “Legends,” a single so boring that it isn’t distinctive enough to be legendarily awful.
If you’re going to memorialize a relationship as epic, you better have the vocals and the production to back up that claim. Kelsea Ballerini isn’t a particularly interesting vocalist, but she doesn’t necessarily need to be, if the band can get out of first gear and give her some support. Instead, the studio musicians sound as dull and uninspired as the singer that they’re backing up.
This entire record is so vanilla that it is barely present while it’s playing, and it’s forgotten as soon as it ends.
Grade: C
I just played this song for the first and last time.
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a single so boring that it isn’t distinctive enough to be legendarily awful
So, a step up from “Love Me Like You Mean It” and “Dibs,” then?
I will never get the appeal in this girl. She’s a mediocre vocalist at best and there are so many other women who deserve the spotlight more than her like Cam, Danielle Bradbery, Carly Pearce, Cassadee Pope, Brooke Eden and Lauren Alaina just to name a few. They all run Circles around Kelsea Ballerini in the talent and for most of them their songwriting is a lot better as well.
I wanna like her because she is a woman in country music. But she does nothing for me and quite frankly I wouldn’t mind if she somehow became irrelevant.
While it might be easy to blame producers and musicians for the flaws on a record, they don’t shoulder the blame alone. If the singer isn’t very good to begin with, all the bells, whistles, and what-not aren’t going to help. And Kelsea Ballerini, beginning with her painfully hammy twang on “Dibs”, has proven to be not very good. This is just a continuation of that trend.
Oh boy, yet another reason not to listen to country radio. Where do all of these vanilla wannabes come from ?
I am glad that Raymond mentioned Carly Pearce. She seems to be getting some traction; I think she has one of the most beautiful voices in country music. Some of her song selection needs to improve but she should move to the front row of newer talent. Also, I saw Cam in concert a couple of summers ago – great voice with some really good music. May we see more of these quality artists.
Since other female vocalists are being mentioned, I’ll add one of my favorites, Kree Harrison. I’ve seen her twice – powerful voice. She reminds me of Trisha Yearwood plus she co-wrote 9 of the 13 songs on her debut album.
At her show on February 21, 2017 at the Bluebird Cafe, Kree said that her new single would be “Drinkin’ for Two”, written by Kree, Benji Davis & Mike Walker. Love it but it hasn’t gotten any traction and hasn’t been reviewed to my knowledge.
chorus:
“Bartender, please don’t mind me
Here, take my keys, I ain’t driving
Just keep this drink full for a fool
Cause I feel about as empty as that stool
So I’m drinking for two”
Her first two singles off her “This Old Thing” cd failed to crack the top 40. The first was the title track, “This Old Thing”. It was followed by “Dead Man’s House”.
Other favorites of mine from her album include:
“I’ve Got Time”
“Something in the Middle”
“How to Dance”
Kree Harrison. Great choice! I have only heard a couple of her songs, yet I too was duly impressed. Thank you for raising her name, Bob.
Just a horrific song and vocals- sounds like she phoned it in.
Always thought she was a mediocre vocalist. Wish they would play some decent country female singers.
Taylor Swift 2.0