Rating: 7/10
Before I go any further, I know this has nothing to do with anything, but you all may have noticed my lack of writing during the past week. Some things have happened to keep me from it, some of which are personal and have nothing whatsoever to do with CE and others which have affected CE directly. Regardless, there were several things I intended to write, reviews and otherwise, which didn’t get written for various reasons–life has that way about it. The reviews will come, the other stuff won’t because the time has passed to comment. Also, for all 7 of you lovely people who voted on Twitter, there will hopefully be a playlist for April coming eventually. Obviously none of that has anything to do with Maddie & Tae, but it felt like an update was warranted. And now, on to the first thing I’ve been excited to write about since I heard it earlier this week.
AS for Maddie & Tae, I’ve written so much about these ladies just in their short existence, and it simply makes me happy as a music fan to see them arrive with this lead single from their second album, and even more happy that it stays in their pop country lane so well. Yes, it’s more pop than most of what we’ve seen from them so far, but it’s still solidly pop country, and perhaps more importantly, still sounds like the duo. Their excellent harmonies are back, always a great addition to their songs, and the acoustic guitar and banjo can be heard in the mix, giving actual country flavor to the track, as you would expect from one of their songs. Their smart, clever songwriting is on full display here with the hook “we do, but friends don’t.” It’s describing all these unique, specific situations, like calling each other in the middle of the night just to chat and having conversations with only their eyes–all things that you don’t do if you’re just friends. The song lays out all these examples and then sells it with that hook, explaining that they can’t deny this chemistry between them any longer. That’s the thing about this–the songwriting is smart, but it’s also so relatable and something probably all of us have either experienced personally or have seen happening with our friends. Sometimes we can even see it in those around us easier than we can see it in ourselves. It’s a sentiment so many will understand, and portrayed cleverly by Maddie & Tae, at once specific to this couple and universal for the listener.
Solid single, looking forward to the album.
Written by: Maddie Marlow, Tae Dye, Justin Ebach, Jon Nite