Single Reviews
Single Review: Jana Kramer, “Said No One Ever”
Jana Kramer’s long list of quotations attributed to “no one ever” includes, but is by no means limited to, “Wish you’d talk more about yourself”, “Sucks to be rich”, “I don’t need your love and affection”, “I don’t need to be your one and only,” “Love is always real on reality TV”, “Don’t want love to last forever”, and “My Heisman and my Grammy came so damn easy”.
Single Review: Chris Young featuring Cassadee Pope, “Think of You”
Chris Young’s new duet single portrays a recently broken up man and woman revisiting the stomping grounds they once shared as a couple. The verses are laced with small details that make it easy for the listener to picture the scene. Young notes the “same old bar, same burned out lights,” while asking “Why in the hell does it feel like a different place?”
Single Review: Maren Morris, “My Church”
The most obvious points of comparison for singer-songwriter Maren Morris and her single “My Church” are to Sheryl Crow’s self-titled masterpiece and its follow-up, The Globe Sessions. Though Crow spent the 1990s as a pop star, her ties to the country genre were clear. “If It Makes You Happy” was always a honky-tonk anthem waiting to happen, while “The Difficult Kind,” “Home,” and “Mississippi” all sound more recognizably country than do current chart-topping hits by Sam Hunt, Kelsea Ballerini, and Thomas Rhett.
Single Review: Carrie Underwood, “Heartbeat”
“Heartbeat” has been stuck in my head for days, which isn’t surprising, really. It has a solid hook that Underwood delivers with charm and sincerity, two qualities that I always find abundant in her work.
It’s a beautiful song, too. Romantic, heartfelt, and chock full of the specific details that make a song with a well-tread theme sound fresh and interesting.
