I’m not the world’s biggest country music fan, but I certainly don’t hate the genre. A quick poke through my CD collection will reveal not only the requisite Johnny Cash, but also Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and a handful of others. I’m no *expert*, but there’s stuff I like.
I’m definitely not the world’s biggest Jessica Simpson fan, but I don’t altogether dislike the woman. Despite the fact that she absolutely ruined two great pop songs (Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Robbie Williams’ “Angels”), I think she’s a talented singer who oversings to the point of wretched excess. I also don’t think she has much to say musically or lyrically, so I’ve been fairly comfortable ignoring her (well, not totally ignoring her…there were a handful of songs on her last album that I really liked).
Anyhoo, speaking *of* that last album, “A Public Affair”. Just after it seemed Jess had finally established herself as a star, the album bricked. HARD. It was certified Gold, but to date has only sold about 299,000 copies. So…her handlers (including her super-skeeve of a dad) have brought out the Texas in her and her next album is going to be a country record. Does Jessica have what it takes to sit amongst the likes of Carrie Underwood on country radio? Listen for yourself.
Aside from the fact that she borrowed the song’s title from the biggest-selling country album of all time (hi, Shania!), there’s nothing remarkable about this song to my ears. Her vocal is super dialed-down, which is a good thing, but the song itself is repetitive to the point of annoyance, the lyrics are cloying (which would be one thing coming from an actual country artist as opposed to a pop artist whose gone country because she’ll sell more records that way), and the song just has no personality. Any thoughts from the audience?
