“Freedom”
Reba McEntire
Written by James Brunswick, Tommy Cecil, Jaida Dreyer, and John Pierce
To anyone following along, Reba McEntire has previewed several tracks from her upcoming album, Stronger Than the Truth, since we reviewed the title track a few weeks ago.
“Freedom” is actually being sent to radio, and perhaps it was designed and recorded for that particular purpose. It has a bigger sound and is less traditional than everything else that’s been released so far. Unsurprisingly, it’s also the least satisfying. The lyric is well written, and she sings it just fine. But the chorus goes too big, subscribing to the false notion that louder means more impactful.
The reason most everything else previewed from Stronger Than the Truth works well is that it’s understood that McEntire is enough of a stylist to deliver nuance and meaning with just her voice, especially as she relies less on vocal acrobatics than she ever has. “Freedom” doesn’t trust the lady at the mic, and ultimately goes against the lyric by restraining the one element of the record that needs to be set free.
Grade: B-
Based upon the previewed songs from Reba I am feeling very optimistic about this new album. Of the 6 songs Reba has previewed, IMO this is the weakest of the set, but that doesn’t mean the song is bad.
…so far, I have been somewhat underwhelmed by every track that I have been listening to from this “most country album for years” by reba.”freedom” is quite a good choice to be sent to country radio, since it has a rather catchy hook that clearly makes it a chart and playlist contestant.this song is not really country by a long way, musically. then again, it’s a reba song and that alone makes it kinda country… – somehow.
I love Reba and love the song “Tammy Wynette Kind of Pain.” However, I too am a bit underwhelmed with most of the tracks I have heard thus far. As a whole, the CD (at least what’s been released thus far), are not as traditional country as hyped. Anyway, I am still looking forward to the CD and it does seem to be an improvement from her other recent releases