*check out my last music round-up here!*
The world is slowly but surely getting back to normal, and we got loads of new music this month. Life is good. September heralded the release of albums from some of my favourite artists, and introduced me to some new ones who I’m sure will be future favourites. You can check out my full 40+ song playlist from this month, and read on for the songs I’ve really been loving. In no particular order…
These two ought to be some of the biggest names in country over the next decade. Listeners of my show will already have heard Tenille Arts as my featured female artist earlier this year, and Matt Stell often makes an appearance during my end of the month round-up shows (as he will again this month!) Given my love for both these artists, you can imagine my excitement when I heard they were releasing a song together. Over You Is You is in a sub-genre I just love – the ‘can’t quite get closure’ side. Here’s a country-rock song about trying to move on from someone you loved, but not doing a great job as “Baby, you’re my go-to I go to, I can’t find the ‘move on with someone new’, no matter what I do, ‘over you’ is you comin’ over.” The voices work, the song works – a success in my book.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4q6ZkvXOCdKaGFBwTWj7nY
Sorry To The Waitress – Leah Sykes
If you’re a fan of some of the female-led pop songs that I’ve featured in previous round-ups from the likes of Delaney Jane, Blu Eyes, and Brynn Cartelli, I can tell you that this one is bound to be right up your street too. In this indie-pop song, Leah Sykes sings about the situation we’re all nosy enough to observe but would hate to be a part of – a public disagreement with a partner. Here we’re presented with one side of the couple who’s tired of holding back their argument for so long, and the other who’s more concerned with the opinions of those around them: “If I start crying, you ask for the check and we dip, say I’m too sensitive, you say sorry to the waitress. Horrified and awkward glances from the patrons, care more about these strangers, you say sorry to the waitress.” It’s a sad track set to a pretty catchy tune – what more could you want?
https://genius.com/Leah-sykes-sorry-to-the-waitress-lyrics
New artist alert! I had not one, but two Carter Faith tracks on my September playlist (check out the full playlist here), but this one hooked me in from the first note. This is a song that I’m sure we could all definitely have used a time or too – about that person whose goal in life just seems to be to bring others down: “We all came here to have a good time, ain’t no one gonna make it out of life alive, would it kill you to not be such a buzzkiller? Why do you care who’s kissin’ on who? Who’s findin’ their high in the back bathroom? You sound bitter, why you gotta be…a buzzkiller?” Also contains one of my favourite lines: “Why you always got such a bad attitude? It’s Friday night, baby, no one’s mad at you,” (say it louder for the people in the back!) It’s a really well produced upbeat song with beautiful vocals, and if you’re not holding your breath at the beatdrop, you’re doing it wrong.
https://www.shazam.com/track/577119564/buzzkilla
Cherry Blossom – Kacey Musgraves
Is Golden Hour the best record of the past decade? Yes. Is Kacey Musgraves one of the best artists of all time? Also yes. After such a phenomenal third album, I’ll admit I didn’t know whether Kacey could even reach the bar she’d previously set with new album star-crossed. I think it’s fair to say that I’ll always have my favourites on Golden Hour, but I think this new album might herald a few favourites too, including Cherry Blossom. Given that this album is colloquially known as Kacey’s ‘divorce album’, I think it’s fitting that she’s used the imagery of cherry blossoms to represent something which is utterly beautiful, but ultimately short-lived: “We happened quickly, as humans do. Summer was coming, and change was too. Look at me now, I’m fallin’ at your feet, I’m your cherry blossom, baby, don’t let me blow away.” I love this song because, like she often does, Kacey has made country different. She incorporated Japanese sounds and imagery, blurred the line between country and pop, used synths and beats that are utterly unusual in this genre. Job well done. P.S. Simple Times is also brilliant!
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kacey-musgraves-star-crossed/
Like the previous entry, this one is pretty much my way of encouraging you to listen to the entire album. This month, the hideously-underrated should-be-country-star Lauren Alaina released her third album Sitting Pretty On Top Of The World. Again, there are loads of fantastic songs that I could mention here (and indeed previously have), but Written In The Bar was just one that really resonated with me. Here we have the story of two people finding a love not written in the stars, but written in the bar: “We were last call fallin’, two hearts tequila talkin’. We found each other in the dark, numbers on Friday night napkins, a different kind of bound to happen. No, we weren’t written in the stars, we were written in the bar.” If you’ve ever connected with someone in a bar, this is the song to make you reminisce about it all. Please, listen to this song, listen to Lauren’s entire discography, and you’ll see why she deserves so much more than she has.
https://www.amazon.com/Sitting-Pretty-World-Lauren-Alaina/dp/B099BYLHBD
Save Me – LANCO
Male country bands have a lot going for them, and yet I feel like we don’t really hear enough about them (with the rare exception *cough* Zac Brown Band *cough). Parmalee, Eli Young Band, James Barker Band – all well deserving to be Main Stage acts, and I’ll certainly be adding LANCO to that list. Save Me is the latest track from the five-piece band, a plea from a guy to a girl who could help to get him onto the straight and narrow: “Don’t you know that I saw you walk in this place? Devilish grin and an angel face, you could be my saving grace. So, baby please, come a little bit closer til the space between is gone and the night is over, I’ve been lost but I found you, you could be the someone to pull me close tonight, make me believe, that you could save me.” It’s simple and fun, and definitely a good track to save you from musical monotony.
https://tunebat.com/Info/Save-Me-LANCO/41c0nW524VqMTPwATKSrdG
Taylor Swift, is that you? If you’d told me this was an unreleased Fearless vault track, I’d believe you. Alana has the T-Swift vibes down pat, from the voice to the imagery – “Take me to the water tower, run that red light flashing, can we turn the stars up louder? Kiss me, breathless, faster, cause tonight is magic, our lips like magnets.” This is a song about that first love feeling, when it’s probably not love, but you don’t know any better: “Pull in the driveway, kiss on the porch, saying goodnight and it’s 5 in the morning, make my upstairs, stare at the ceiling, smiling and dreaming, this feeling is real.” I really think Alana has a lot going for her – I’ve loved previous tracks like California and Trying Not To because they really do evoke that early 2010s era of country pop I fell in love with. I’m excited for what’s next!
https://open.spotify.com/album/2tIy2ojA3bkjG456goNWxT
23 – Sam Hunt
Obviously September was a month for reminiscing about years gone by. You can tell this song is going to be cute from the get-go with that soft, groovy guitar intro. This song has such a lovely nostalgic message about no matter how many years go by, and how much a person changes, they’ll always be that person you knew at that point in time: “You’ll always have long blonde hair, you’ll always be Memphis queen, you’ll always be my first time in New Orleans.” It got me thinking about those people who were my 17, 21, and 23, and if you’ve got people you remember from various years throughout your life, you’ll definitely connect with this one too. “No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I’ll never be 23 with anyone but you. You can marry who you want, go back to Tennessee, but you’ll never be 23 with anyone but me.” Sam really proves his versatility on this one – he can do party anthems, he can do sexy songs, and hecan do sweet ones too. I approve.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3i5LIueVgxjgCu1TIZOraP
Where does the time go? I hope you enjoyed reading my Top 8 this month – you can check out all of my favourite songs right here: Ciara's Country Spotify, and I’d love to know what songs you’ve been loving recently, drop me a message on Twitter @CiarasCountry! You can also join me ever Friday GMT 5-8pm on www.ukcountryradio.com for three hours of great country music just like this – I hope you’ll join me! Thanks so much for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment