I’ve been waiting for Kelsea’s new album pretty much since her first one came out. As I mentioned in my What I’m Listening To post, I saw a video of her performing High School around 2 and a half years ago, and as soon as she said it was going on the second album, I began to desperately await any information about its release.
The lead single from the album was released way back in June so it feels like its been years since we got wind of new music. Finally, the albums release date is here and we’ve finally got to hear studio versions of all tracks. I thought I’d break them down and review them for you, so maybe you will go check out the album, because I’m aware most my readership (aka my friends who I forced to read this blog) are not avid country fans.
I think what Kelsea does best is find the blend between country and pop. She has a voice that was made for pop music definitely, but the music behind it still sounds country even though it’s not blatantly a banjo or violin. I’ve seen a lot of people criticise the promotional singles for being too pop, so I’ve been excited to see what the rest of the album is like.
She’s said that the album follows three chapters of her life recently, loss, life and love. So obviously we start out with a break up song. I’d seen the lyrics to Graveyard before I heard the song, so it was interesting to see how it would turn out musically. The song starts of strong with a well written first verse but I feel like lyrically, it gets weaker as the song progresses. I do like the line “I guess you don’t need a shovel to dig a grave” at the end of the second verse. I feel like the chorus is already growing on me, so after a few listens maybe I’ll love it more. It’s a slower tempo than most the promotional singles we’ve had, giving it more of an organic country sound which I am a fan of.
Miss Me More was a promotional single so it has already had it’s time to grow on me. From hearing the title of the song, my initial thought was that it would go down the “You’re going to miss me more than I miss you” kind of route, so I was surprised when I first heard it, as content wise, it was no what I was expected. It’s definitely one of the more pop songs on the record, but still contains the country underlay.
Track three, titled Get Over Yourself, is possibly one of my favourite tracks on the album so far. At first I was put off by the contrast between the tempo of the verses and the chorus, but it has grown on me since I first heard it in the early hours of this morning.
We’ve been hearing Roses performed on tour for months now so I was no stranger to the song. I think this is the most pop the album has to offer, but like with every song, you can tell its not radio pop and that its definitely country pop. It certainly the best dance party song on the record, and I’m hoping it becomes a single next summer, because it has a very strong summer vibe and I can imagine driving to the beach blasting this from the speakers.
I feel that with track five we’re starting to progress into the “life” chapter of this album with a little bit of the “loss” chapter over flowing. This album shows how Ballerini has matured since her debut. Machine Heart acts as more of an interlude for me. Its not a stand out song and is very much the “Square Pegs” of the album in my eyes. It definitely helps the story of the album flow, but I don’t feel like its a contender for my favourite song on the album.
The first time I heard In Between, I thought it was going to be the albums “Square Pegs” but after a few listens, I think its becoming one of my favourites. The line “Sometimes I’m my mother’s daughter, sometimes I’m her friend” is my favourite lyric on the entire album. It was the line that made me fall in love with this song, and is definitely something I wish I had written.
I’ve spoken about High School before in my What I’m Listening To last month so I wont go into too much detail on this one. As I’ve loved this song for such a long time, I’m excluding it from the competition for favourite song as I feel I’m slightly biased. Lyrics aside, I love how this was produced and I think it made the song even better than the acoustic version from tour. Being the only song that Kelsea wrote alone, it definitely shows her skills so I’d recommend this to anyone who hasn’t heard her music before.
I love the slower tempo of End of the World. Lyrically, I don’t think its the strongest song on the album, I like the topic of the song, and the line “I thought the stars in the sky and in my eyes had lost their shine” is a stand out for me. I feel like its a lot more raw than any of the other songs on the album which I really like, and it gives it more of a country vibes.
I Hate Love Songs is another track that’s been performed on tour so I’d already heard it many a time. The chorus is short and sweet but the verses are definitely the strongest part of the song, the lyrics are filled with honesty and humour, and I think its one of the stronger songs on the album.
The title track Unapologetically is leaning more into the pop genre but this doesn’t take away from the track. It’s a good song and follows the summer vibes of Roses. It’s undeniably great to dance to, so will be in all my solo dance party playlists. Despite claiming to hate love songs in the previous track, to me this is definitely a love song.
Music didn’t stand out to me at first as a contender for favourite song, but listening back now I do love it a lot. For some reason its reminding me of an old S Club 7 track, with those early 2000s pop vibes. It still a country track but I just can’t help but think of S Club whenever I hear it. I think I’m going to say this is my favourite song on the album, but I tend to change my mind on these things all the time.
Final track and lead single Legends was a song of the summer for me this year. It’s very whimsical and has some strong throwbacks to Taylor Swift’s Long Live. The music video for the song was pretty beautiful and I’m glad that it told the story of two characters other than Ballerini and her ‘significant other’. It also includes some amazing shots of what looks like the coast of California.
Overall, I do really love this album as I love Ballerini’s sound so I’ll enjoy anything she puts out. My music taste is largely dependent on my mood and current situation, so any of these songs have the potential to become my favourite song in the future. I’d recommend this album to anyone looking for something new to listen to, so you should definitely go check it out. It was worth the wait, so I’m pretty happy.
Hope you enjoy the album!
Love Georgie xo
Everything After Eighteen 