Filed under: Country Music, Country/Pop, Electropop, Pop Music | Tags: Country Music, Country/Pop, CSI, Electropop, Fearless, Remix, Sophomore, Taylor Swift, You're Not Sorry
While doing my homework this past Thursday night, my sister came 
downstairs and turned the tv on to watch CSI, mostly because Taylor Swift was guest-starring. While watching I won’t say I thought Taylor was a great actor, but you gotta give the girl props; she’s 19, has already had two hit albums and looks like, with time, she could hold her own in acting.
Moving on, while I thought the episode was interesting, I was more fascinated by the remixed version of “You’re Not Sorry” that was played during the show. The remix was much more electropop compared to Swift’s usual country/pop. After hearing it, I couldn’t help but wonder if Swift would be better off going completely pop.
Many of us know that Taylor is definitely in the confines of country/pop more than any other genre in country music (and some could still argue that.) Her recent sophomore album Fearless just further cemented that. There’s also no doubt that Taylor will be a great songwriter for the next decade and maybe more to come. But the real question is should Taylor ditch all of her country roots and go pop, or should she still stay in the confines of the country/pop genre for now?
Filed under: Album Review, Country Music | Tags: Album Review, Country Music, Sugarland
Sugarland first hit the scene in 2004 with their debut album Twice The Speed Of Life. While many have said their recent work is their best yet, their debut album sounds just as strong when put up against the likes of Love On The Inside.
Each of the albums tracks sounds like a smash hit waiting to happen. “Something More” stands as a working anthem for all the average joe and jane’s out there. “Baby Girl” another catchy up-tempo track, that shows the struggles of an upcoming singer, that rises to stardom, and is a way more realistic spin on Chesney’s “Big Star” that he had a hit with the year before.
But the highlights of the album come from the tracks that weren’t specifically intended to be released to radio. Tracks like “Hello”, “Small Town Jericho”, “Tennessee”, “Stand Back Up” and “Down In Mississippi (And Up To No Good)” find the trio showing their really country roots and give the album a modern retro feel.
The only thing that may detract from the album is that it plays it almost too safe, and doesn’t let the trio truly shine as artists in sake of making it a commercial success. But with Nettles mainstream-with-a-twist-of-country vocals and all three of the trio’s great song writing; Twice The Speed Of Life works as a great album in the vein of the Dixie Chicks.
B+
