I’m going to admit, I haven’t heard any of Thomas Rhett’s first album apart from his great song ‘Beer With Jesus’. However, I was a big fan of the lead single from this project ‘Crash & Burn’, and was impressed by his live performance when I went to the Opry, and so I went into ‘Tangled Up’ with an open mind. Besides, I’m not the kind of country fan who automatically dismisses anything that doesn’t sound like it’s come from the mouth of Merle, so I dived into ‘Tangled Up’ hoping to hear some good songs, whilst also not expecting anything particularly country.
Imagine my shock when the first track ‘Anthem’ opens with a banjo! Thomas is going back to his roots and making some country songs? Don’t be silly; ‘Anthem’ is not as R&B as ‘Tangled Up’ goes, but it is firmly placed in the modern pop/party-country, with electronic beats and a very busy backing with no discernible individual instrumentation. Having said this, I like it. It has lots of energy and an infectious melody. I am always a supporter of the mantra that if an artist is going to make a party song, it should be full of energy as you would listen getting ready for a night out. This is why I don’t get on board with some of Luke Bryan’s offerings, and why ‘Anthem’ works for me.
‘Crash & Burn’ is next, and I do like this song a lot. I like Thomas’ deep vocals, I like the chilled-out vibe that comes with the R&B style and l love the melody. ‘Crash & Burn’ is the lead single from this album, and so I have heard it being played all over the place, and I still like it, which implies that it may just have some legs for a like-minded fan. Of course being marketed as country is problematic and will cause a backlash by pretty much every traditionalist out there, but I like it when I hear it come on in a shop, and I like listening to it at home, so ‘Crash & Burn’ has the endorsement of this writer.
The album gets really crap with ‘South Side’. The track starts with an electronic British announcer saying ‘Please commence shaking your south side’. This could be in the top-10 cringiest moments in country music history, and the song doesn’t get much better from this opening. The lyrics can be summed up by ‘People on the left/ Shake your south side/ People on the right/ Shake your south side’ and needless to say, this makes the song boring, repetitive and pretty awful to listen to. The melody doesn’t save it either, since it is full-blown R&B and so uses a kind of funk-beat not conducive to melodic songs and more conducive to white-boy funk dancing. If a DJ puts this song on in a club, they should be automatically fired on the spot.
Thank god that ‘Die A Happy Man’ comes next. Thomas Rhett is simply wonderful in singing this song, with a really smooth, pleasant tone to his good voice and although the intro sounds a bit like Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’, fortunately the song diverges from Ed Sheeran (background: I hate Ed Sheeran) and it is melodically and atmospherically wonderful. With an acoustic and groove backing, it is also musically pleasant. The only thing I can say about this song is that there is no trace of Thomas’ strong southern twang that he has in most of his ‘country’ songs, which demonstrates that he can turn it on and off when it suits him, which doesn’t help with my cynicism about music marketing in general.
I think there must be something wrong with me, because although every fibre in my being tells me to hate ‘Vacation’, I actually really like it and it makes me happy. I’m not sure why I like it, because there has pretty much been unanimous hatred of it on social media, and it is the most un-country song ever made, but I think that it is the sheer audacity of including it on the album that makes me like it. It is so far out there with Kesha-style electro-rap and fast, busy beats and refrains that I just can’t help but admire Thomas. Having said that, if anyone is under the impression that I am recommending you buy this song, I am not saying that, because chances are you will hate it. It is very much in my ‘guilty pleasure’ and ‘#noshame’ category, but you never know, maybe this admittance will help other people come out in support of it as well!
This album is one of extreme contrasts, because the next song ‘Like It’s The Last Time’ is a more-country song, along the lines of ‘Die A Happy Man’. I like this song, and Thomas’ accent returns with this heavy ballad. This is the style of song that is pretty tender, whilst at the same time having pretty heavy instrumentation with electric guitars and drum kits, and I like the effect this gives. This is very much a sing-along track, and I think it will be very good live. Having included it in the album, it does remind me of the anecdote from when Taylor Swift ‘went pop’ and Scott Borchetta asked her to include a couple of ‘country’ songs. Although Taylor refused, this song feels like one of Thomas’ ‘country’ songs that can be used to help market an R&B album to a country audience.
‘T-Shirt’ is another change in an album full of changes, being more in the style of Sam Hunt rather than pure R&B or pop. I still like this song, and at this stage of the review I am giving up on trying to understand this crazy album, which has more styles of music than I ever thought possible, and I reviewed Zac Brown Band’s latest album ‘Jekyll + Hyde’! ‘Single Girl’ and ‘The Day You Stopped Looking Back’ adopt more of a steady, romantic style, akin to ‘Like It’s The Last Time’ or ‘Die A Happy Man’, which works very well, and both are pretty decent songs. Although they don’t excite me like some of the wackier songs on the album do, they are much safer, and are more likely to stand the test of time after the novelty wears off this album.
The album ends with two collaborations, ‘Playing With Fire’ featuring Jordin Sparks, sometime collaborator with Chris Brown and other R&B superstars. I like the song very much, containing more of a dark edge than Thomas’ other R&B efforts. The addition of Jordin is also good, since she does big dramatic songs better than most, and the combination seems to gel quite well, creating an authentic pop song that wouldn’t seem out of place in the top-40.
The second collaboration is ‘I Feel Good’ with rapper Lunch Money Lewis. Now that I think back, rap is the only thing that ‘Tangled Up’ was missing, and now I needn’t have worried. The song is pretty cool, with a chilled out vibe created by a subtle blend of Thomas’ vocals with a vocoder, and I think this works pretty well. By the time the rap comes in, the listener will have already got an impression of the song, so I can’t really say what purpose the rap has since it isn’t really anything special, lyrically or rhythmically, so in my opinion the song would be just as good without it.
I’m sorry I rambled on about ‘Tangled Up’ for so long, but it is a bit of a mind-bender of an album, with some awful songs, some great songs, and a lot of average songs, none of which are even remotely similar to each other. It’s not the most coherent of records, but maybe that’s the point; after all, it is called ‘Tangled Up’.
Originally posted here.
