Rating: 4/10

So I guess we’re never going to get back the Sugarland of old, the group that produced the singles “Baby Girl” and “Want to” and gave us hidden gems on their early albums like “Hello” and “Fly Away.”

I guess we’re stuck with the new and (supposedly) improved Sugarland, the one that gave us the incredibly obnoxious pair of songs “Stuck Like Glue” and “All I Want to Do.”

But actually, that’s not even entirely accurate either because at least those songs made you feel a certain degree of something, even if the emotion varied from annoyance to hatred. All this new “Still the Same” single is is filler at best and an insomnia cure at worst. It’s an absolutely weak and whimpering way to make a comeback…and what an ironic title because the sameness and nothingness in this song is ultimately its defining point and even makes other criticisms seem trivial in comparison. Sure, it’s got electronic beats, it’s overly processed, and Jennifer Nettles’ twang is overdone–but you don’t even notice any of that by the end of the song because it’s already faded into the background and forgotten. Four listens in, and I can’t quote a single lyric. The idea is that their love is still the same after all this time, but it’s a thinly veiled metaphor for their career. The whole thing is poorly written, overproduced, and basically just a shallow piece of nothing. It’s not even that I would turn my radio dial when this came on; I wouldn’t have to because it is so easily tuned out.

Sugarland can be much better than this, as can each of its members separately. Here’s to hoping that whatever comes next for them will be better because this single is lazy and disappointing.