Song Review- Jana Kramer’s “I Got The Boy”
If there’s any silver lining to the dark, ominous clouds hanging like a low ceiling over country music’s female population, it’s that faced with the reality of their songs systematically failing at radio, they’re inadvertently bestowed the freedom to do whatever the hell they want without having to worry about the radio ramifications. That’s one of the reasons females are leading the pack in country creatively, while their male counterparts are forced to perpetually chase the next #1 to stay relevant.
Either you can dock Jana Kramer street cred for once dating Brantley Gilbert, or you can dole her extra credit for dumping him. Normally the love life of a performer would be nobody’s business but their own, but it seems especially relevant when broaching the subject of Jana’s latest single, “I Got The Boy.” Thrice divorced, with some other engagements mixed in there, including one to a certain singer who is so insecure in his manhood he must have a set of brass knuckles welded on his microphone handle, Kramer has intimately seen the in’s and out’s of the various gestation periods of the modern American male, and can sing about them with authority.
Kramer’s upcoming album is called Thirty One, boldly displaying her born on date during a moment when many women get demure about their age. But Kramer isn’t dwelling on emerging wrinkles, she’s calling upon the wisdom of age in “I Got The Boy,” which was released way back in the spring, but has been etching a slow build over these many months and is just now breaking into the Top 25.
Written by the somewhat strange troika of Tim Nichols, Connie Harrington, and Britney’s sister Jamie Lynn Spears (perhaps for her EP, but it didn’t make the cut?), “I Got The Boy” isn’t the victorious proclamation of Kramer’s conquests in the often banal trenches of the dating ritual, it is a reflective tune that makes use to the timeless country songwriting tool of turning an idea back on itself to reveal the truth of things. Exquisitely-written, “I Got The Boy” also checks itself before waxing with jealously even though that window is left wide open in the narrative, showing the wisdom of the perspective and approach.
Jana Kramer’s voice is perhaps where the composition struggles a bit. She takes a more forceful, bold approach, where maybe more hushed and intimate tones would have better fit the mood. But the smoky nature of her tone at the start of each voice helps texture the delivery, despite feeling very much referred by the straightforward styles of the mainstream.
The music of “I Got The Boy” is tasteful, and respecting of country music modes without particularly pandering to them, but most importantly the production gets out of the way of what is best about this track: the writing. A song like this would regularly not get cut by a major label artist, and certainly wouldn’t have a shot at country radio. But perhaps it’s a new day. The blow back from Salad Gate has country radio programmers on the hot seat, and all of a sudden listeners are discovering there’s more to music than sexed up tailgate songs.
“I Got The Boy” is no world beater, but it certainly is a welcomed surprise in an otherwise bereft and hopeless climate for country music women on radio.
October 7, 2015 @ 11:32 am
When we’re singing the praises of otherwise unremarkable artists and material, we’ve sunk. I have a friend who’s recently discovered Kasey Musgraves, he’s preached it to me before, and I’m not particularly enthused with her brand of “bland-but-at-least-it’s-not-stupid” music. I sent him to go pick up “Southeastern.”
The problem with women in Country Music is that they have historically NOT been the genre’s pioneers. The Patsys (Montana and Cline) notwithstanding. Another big problem with the current generation of Female performers is just not being anything in general. They aren’t traditional, they aren’t full-blown pop, (except Ballerina) they aren’t profound, they aren’t stupid. The end result is a lot of music that isn’t worth complaining about only because it isn’t bad as the stuff we’re used to complaining about, and STILL isn’t really good enough to listen to. The problem, again, is a dearth of quality material, to the point that this song and others like it, which don’t compare well to “Plastic Trains, Paper Planes” or “Don’t Lie” but compare very well to “Stuck Like Glue” and anything Thomas Rhett has ever done, get a free pass.
It’s like letting the guy with a tiny bomb through at the airport because we’re too busy dealing with the guy with a rocket launcher and a case full of grenades!
October 7, 2015 @ 12:29 pm
That this song is noticeably better than most of what plays on country radio these days, says much more about country radio than about Jana Kramer. This would have been typical radio fare back in the 1990s, before the bro country movement of the last few years. Jana also reminds me a bit of Shania Twain – a sexy northern chick with a pop vibe in most of her songs, who mostly sings about relationships …
October 7, 2015 @ 1:08 pm
I guess there’s been enough Country Music recorded in the past, and in recent years by independent heroes, that is good, honest, authentic and exciting stuff, that the radio’s attempts to win me back by being not as bad as it could be don’t excite me. Yes, Miranda Lambert is better than most of what’s on the radio, but that doesn’t make her any good. “Automatic” notwithstanding she is a one-dimensional performer with a lot of breakup songs, not a particularly great voice, and no real justification for her celebrity status, except that the isn’t as bad as some.
BUT hey, people can like what they like, one of my best friends is a true-blue bro, who’s met Aldean, Bryan, and the FGL guys (shocker that he’s one of my best friends huh?) As long as nobody tells me that stupid music is better than what I like, anybody can listen to whatever they please.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:34 pm
I don’t think “I Got The Boy” is unremarkable as a composition. I think it is very good. I think Kramer’s voice holds it back some, but I wouldn’t call it unremarkable either, I would just say it’s out of place. And I don;t think Kacey Musgraves is unremarkable. Some of her singles have been, but there’s some great songs on her last record, regardless of the era. But of course all of these things are just my opinions.
October 7, 2015 @ 4:19 pm
I wouldn’t put Kacey Musgraves in the same boat as Jana Kramer. KM has some pretty samey material, but even her blandest song seems more inspired than anything I’ve ever heard from Jana Kramer.
October 7, 2015 @ 4:28 pm
I do agree with you, though that the praising of mediocre songs lately is shows just how bad country radio is these days. That Joe Nichols song that just came out might sound like Johnny Paycheck compared to FGL, but it’s mediocre at best. Just because a song is country, doesn’t make it any good. Cam’s Burning House doesn’t sound too country to me, but it’s the best song on country radio that I’ve heard in a long ass time.
October 7, 2015 @ 4:39 pm
Are we praising these songs, or are we discussing them? I certainly didn’t mean to praise the Joe Nichols song. Just because I review something and don’t flame it all to hell doesn’t mean I’m recommending it.
October 7, 2015 @ 4:53 pm
Oh, I wasn’t saying YOU were praising it, Trig. For the most part, I actually very much agreed with your review of Freaks Like Me. I’ve just noticed that for the past few years, any time a mainstream song or artist comes out that sounds the least bit like traditional country, there are a lot of people that gush over it, however bland and lifeless the song/artist may actually be. Eric Church is a good example I think. He’s head and shoulders above his mainstream contemporaries, but his music isn’t half as country as The Turnpike Troubadours, Sturgill Simpson, or Hellbound Glory. He’s not half the writer that Jason Isbell, Chris Knight, or Austin Lucas are. He’s ok, sometimes pretty good, but really not deserving of all the acclaim he gets.
October 7, 2015 @ 5:02 pm
I agree. At the same time, the measurement is different for the mainstream because it’s only fair to measure music against its peers. And if a song from Jana Kramer or Joe Nichols at least shows a little progress in the right direction, maybe we should recognize that in hopes that we continue to see forward progress.
October 8, 2015 @ 9:25 am
“The problem with women in Country Music is that they have historically NOT been the genre”™s pioneers. The Patsys (Montana and Cline) notwithstanding.”
Huh? Historically women were held back by men running things (like country radio still does today) but there’s been many women in country pioneers:
https://www.pinterest.com/xfla12/women-pioneers-of-country-music/
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=32089
There’s also Reba, Barbara Mandrell, Emmylou Harris, The Dixie Chicks, Shania, Miranda and more. We could almost count most country music women as pioneers to some degree. Quite a few modern women make music just as great as Isbell’s or close and most of it is good enough to listen to.
The only pioneering many of the mainstream men do these days is copying each other’s songs and selling out to other genres. They call it evolving but cavemen made better and more original music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYBNoFcvcWI
I Got The Boy and many Sugarland songs are better than Stuck Like Glue. Rhett has a few good songs and the rest are bro-country and genre mashup crap. Imagine how bad Stuck Like Glue would sound with him singing it.
There is no problem with women in country music. Men hold most of the power positions so the problem is them screwing it up and holding women back. If half the people running Nashville and radio were women, I imagine we’d see improvement instead of decline in the music made and played.
October 8, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
Let’s examine the facts. Reba was not revolutionary, she didn’t reinvent the playing field like Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, or Patsy Cline did, she was great, but she doesn’t deserve pioneer status. Ms Mandrell is not a particularly exciting performer, and she’s nowhere near Reba in terms of talent, and she didn’t have an “original sound” either, her country music sounded like the country music made in that era. Shania Twain was more pop than country, and doesn’t even merit discussion. The Dixie Chicks, though traditional, were not particularly fresh or even interesting, and compared to Randy Travis or the Class of 89 their impact on Country Radio was far greater through omission than by presence: Country Music changed more in the aftermath of the Dixie Chicks than the Dixie Chicks had done to change Country Music. Miranda Lambert isn’t even very good, her brand of angry woman songs has been done before, and better, by Lorrie Morgan, and as I’ve said before, just because she’s better than Luke, Blake, and Cole doesn’t win her respect.
The most influential Country Musicians NOT NAMED Patsy have all been men, although arguments could be made for Kitty Wells and Taylor Swift.
Hank Williams 1 and 2, Keith Whitley, George Jones, Willie, Waylon, Randy Travis, it was Wynn Stewart who laid the foundation for Bakersfield Sound, Garth Brooks is certainly an influential Country Music presence, whether or not we like him, and the MAN behind Nashville Sound was Chet Atkins.
October 9, 2015 @ 2:56 pm
Some of your “facts” are opinions and the women are better than you’re giving them credit for. You’re leaving out many who influenced yesterday’s and today’s best artists. Artists have named Tammy, Loretta, Shania, Dolly, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, Shania, Dixie Chicks and more women as influences. Shania is a huge empowerment and pop country crossover pioneer and it doesn’t matter to me if she was more pop than country, she still gets pioneer credit. Dixie Chicks were very fresh and interesting. I’m surprised by the dislike Lambert gets here and she’s better than some comments suggest. Maybe she isn’t your cup of tea but saying she isn’t very good is crazy talk. If we make a list of today’s artists or those who debuted after her who are better and more critically acclaimed I think it would be short. Sure “angry woman” songs have been done before and her pioneering is more in her sound. She and the other critically acclaimed modern women are at least as good as Isbell like he basically said below and who does he listen to on country radio? Women.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/jason-isbell-talks-success-songwriting-the-punk-rock-ethos-of-americana-and-disrupting-music-row/Content?oid=5920472
“Do you ever meet fans who are also fans of mainstream country radio that discovered you somehow? Do you share an audience with some of it?
Yeah. I think with some of it I do. I think that what I”™m doing is not all that different from what Miranda Lambert is doing. I feel probably more kinship with the women on that side of the aisle than I do with the men.
Is that because of the themes of the songs?
Yeah, man, they just write better songs! They record better songs right now. When I”™m listening to popular country radio, the only [artists] that I will not change the station on are women, because they have something interesting to say ”” they”™re reacting to the way they”™ve been portrayed in country songs recently, or they”™re trying to undo this kind of stigma that country music has fallen into, you know, the bro-country situation ”” they”™re sort of railing against that, and it”™s become commercially viable for them to do that, so their labels are allowing them to do that. You have to understand, that whole program is really, really screwed up, the way they do that. I mean, if you hear a popular country artist singing about something real, it”™s because their label has allowed them to do it, because their label feels like that will make them money. And I”™m just glad I don”™t have to deal with any of that shit and I can just write a song about whatever I feel like writing a song about and put it on a record.”
https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/433525012973117440
https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/433754848870166528
https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/433755219323654144
October 14, 2015 @ 1:47 pm
I pointed out over on another post those such as Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, forgot all about Barbara Mandrell. I also mentioned those ladies not always considered country but still did a lot for the genre, such as Linda Ronstadt and Norah Jones.
October 11, 2015 @ 7:21 am
I’m late here but agree 100%. There’s few Alison Krauss talents, if any, out there. And could not agree more about KM. Folks praise her because she sings with Willie and is down with weed, but at the end of the day her music is average.
October 7, 2015 @ 11:58 am
She says the connection here is to her high school sweetheart who she is still friends with but the song Bullet has to be about BG lol
October 7, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
Ballcap: check
Back seat: check
Pick-up: check
Jeans: check
Spring Break bods???
4 wheel: check
Backwoods: check
Are you sure you even listened to this song?
October 7, 2015 @ 12:08 pm
Tom, yes, we have checklist “bro” items — but they are associated with “the boy,” not “the man.” That’s the point of the song.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
That’s a great observation. I’m surprised I didn’t catch that! =)
October 7, 2015 @ 12:34 pm
Boom.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
I don’t think I missed any irony in this song, so I guess I’ll respectfully disagree. A checklist is a checklist in my eyes.
October 12, 2015 @ 10:36 am
Lol. Just admit you were wrong and we’ll move on.
October 7, 2015 @ 4:57 pm
I’m pretty sure it’s “spring break bars” but I can’t tell through her female impersonation of Justin Moore fake twang.
October 7, 2015 @ 8:55 pm
Also there is nothing wrong per se about having pickup trucks and backwoods and ball caps in songs … at the risk of sounding like the bro-country artists, it is part of life …
The problem is when these are just used to lazily create lyrics in the absence of a true story and emotions, etc. That certainly is not the case in this song.
As another example … look at Mo Pitney, Just a Dog … lets see: dog, pickup truck, the beach, a girl (with a name though unlike most Bro country songs), going down to the lake, fishing, etc. But don’t tell me this is a bro country song. While it may be a little bit on the cheesy side, there is a lot of emotion in the song … and it certainly tells a story …
October 7, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
Yes, it is exquisitely written. While the vocals are perhaps more “forceful” than necessary, I can scarcely imagine the song having any radio play otherwise. The average listener today is habituated to turn the dial when it doesn’t “grab” him or her immediately. Subtlety is no longer a virtue. Nonetheless, this is still a rather quiet and reflective song, and therefore a much-welcome relief on the radio.
October 7, 2015 @ 11:53 pm
‘The average listener today is habituated to turn the dial when it doesn”™t “grab” him or her immediately. Subtlety is no longer a virtue.’
Amen , Kevin . And that is a damned shame . Clever, Subtlety , Irony , Double meanings …all of the hallmarks of a GREAT country song are missing in 90% of mainstream fare . An industry that gives a damn about that fact would be making a big deal out of artists who GET the importance of those things and strive to preserve them in their work .
October 7, 2015 @ 12:11 pm
I like this song a lot, and I’m glad it’s climbing the charts. It has that simple but clever, classically country lyrical hook that just hits you. I could hear someone like Lee Ann Womack doing this, though I actually really like Jana’s vocals here. I find this genuinely good, not just good by attrition. A step in the right (country) direction.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
It’s about time! I was wondering when you were going to cover this! =)
This is easily, hands down, one of the best mainstream country/”country” singles presently charting alongside Dierks Bentley’s “Riser”, Cam’s “Burning House”, Reba’s “Until They Don’t Love You” and Jon Pardi’s “Head Over Boots”.
There are two things I enjoy most about “I Got The Boy”. Firstly, I can’t recall the last time I’ve heard such a generous amount of dobro in a mainstream country radio single. In fact, you’d arguably have to go as far back as the otherwise regrettable “Sun Daze” to find a mainstream country/”country” single where the instrument is conspicuous.
And that leads right into my second particular point of praise here: the framing from a songwriting standpoint. Before, Kramer relied too heavily on songs that were bratty and lacked nuance like “I Hope It Rains”. Here, Kramer offers a more nuanced approach where she approaches the word that her old flame has settled down with another woman with a sense of reflective gratitude, but also nonetheless a bit insecure and dewy-eyed. She may not regret having went separate ways with him, but you can tell there’s still a lingering ache that memory has imparted on her. And both Kramer’s vocals and the production illustrate that quite convincingly.
So yeah, I really love this song. I wish I was as optimistic about “Thirty-One” as a whole but, thus far, “I Got The Boy” remains my favorite of the five cuts I’ve heard from it, and I’m worried about other titles in the track listing like “Said No One Ever” and “Don’t Touch My Radio”.
I’m giving this a Light to Decent 8 out of 10.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
I think by naming her album “Thirty One,” she’s admitting to some extent to the maturity that may have been needed in her life and her music previously. At least that’s the way I took it.
October 7, 2015 @ 12:37 pm
But that’s just it.
That’s why I’m nonetheless still worried that “I Got The Boy” may prove to be an outlier on the album as a whole if tracks like “Said No One Ever”, “Don’t Touch My Radio” and “Pop A Bottle” are as immature as their titles suggest they’ll be. I’ve also already heard “Bullet”, and that sounded like a regression.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
Yeah, uh… Reba’s last few singles are embarrassing. She’s too old to be trying to be in the “in” crowd. I haven’t heard the latest, but I’d just as soon forget her last two years. As for Kramer, I find this song refreshing and another of the small puzzle pieces necessary to thwart the bro-country momentum.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
Her last single that did well lately was “going out like that” probably in relation since it was a love and theft song. I’m not certain they wrote it (probably did) but they cut it. They lost it when they got dropped from their label and couldn’t afford to buy back the masters at $25k a pop. They talked about it in a rolling stone article.
October 8, 2015 @ 1:28 am
For the record, “Going Out Like That” was written by Rhett Atkins, Ben Hayslip, and Jason Sellers. One of the main reasons why Love and Theft lost the rights to that song was that they did not write it.
Source:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6480328/love-and-theft-talk-being-dropped-by-their-label
October 8, 2015 @ 4:50 am
I should’ve checked but was too lazy to open another screen on the phone. Most of the time know the writers of a song but this one I did not. Good stuff. They had just spoken in general about how they were thinking about buying back the masters than overall just decided to do a clean slate and start over. I’m sure it happens more than we know when an artist gets dropped.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:35 pm
I strongly disliked “Going Out Like That”, but please do yourself a favor and give her album “Love Somebody” a fair listen. I truthfully consider the lead single the clear outlier from what is otherwise solid across the board.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:02 pm
I love the lyrics to this song as I did “Love”, but I don’t think Jana can sing at all. Maybe it’s because of the fake accent she puts on but her voice just sounds grating. I would much rather hear Jamie Lynn Spears or Mickey Guyton sing it and do it justice. There are so many female country singers with better voices than her, so why is she getting good material to ruin?
October 7, 2015 @ 1:45 pm
I’m really interested to know why Jamie was part of the writing of this song, but didn’t record it. Is she a professional songwriter now in Nashville? If not, why did they work on this song, but not release it on her EP? I though “How Could I Want More” was a surprise, but the rest of the EP could have used a song like this. It could have given Jamie a better boost, and possibly she could have dialed in the mood a bit better.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
I really do like this song and I can listen to the whole thing without changing the station. I do agree with the forceful nature of her vocals but I think if sung any other way, it would’ve been too sappy. I’m surprised no one has made the comparison to Patsy Cline’s “She’s Got You”. That’s not a bad thing,
October 7, 2015 @ 1:33 pm
Hmm I definitely disagree. As much as I love the words, Jana Kramer has hands down the worst female voice in country radio. I cringe every time I hear her music. She is nasally, her range is very limited, and honestly comes off as phony when laying on her accent. I got to hear Jamie Lynn Spears sing this and she blew Jan’s out of the water. It made me so mad that she would give it away because I think she could have made it bigger. The same as Boomerang. Maddie and Tae sing circles around Jana Kramer.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:41 pm
I think Jana’s voice can work in certain contexts, but I don’t think it works well here, and that is what holds the song back.
And by the way (not necessarily to you Houston Erwin), I’m not saying this is a great song. I think it’s a great composition, and a decent song that was worth discussing. But if someone says they don’t like it because of Jana’s voice, I’m in no position to disagree.
October 8, 2015 @ 12:16 am
You said “She is nasally, her range is very limited, and honestly comes off as phony when laying on her accent.” I could not agree more. It is also the way I would have described Shania Twain’s voice back in the 1990s when country radio listeners had the misfortune of hearing her lousy singing all the time. Jana has sometimes struck me as a protege of hers. Time to spin Alan Jackson’s “Gone Country”.
October 7, 2015 @ 1:58 pm
This is a very good song. Nashville, more songs like this please.
October 7, 2015 @ 2:17 pm
It is one of the best mainstream songs with no doubt, but personally I wouldn’t rate it over a 5 or 5.5. Her voice isn’t good in any way and she fakes a southern accent which just pisses me off. Maybe her voice would be listenable if she didn’t fake accents , I don’t know man I don’t know lol
My rating:
Mainstream-8
Real-4
October 7, 2015 @ 6:20 pm
Hate to parrot what everybody else is saying, but Jana has such a nasally voice I can’t stand to listen to this song, which is a shame because the lyrics and instrumentation are really good. Her accent sounds really fake as well, especially on parts of the chorus. Give this song to Jamie Lynn Spears and she’d knock it out of the park. Jana, not so much. It’s still decent enough.
October 7, 2015 @ 9:24 pm
Exquisite song. I love how it conveys a sense of bittersweet nostalgia. Jana Kramer’s voice does a great job of expressing that sense of pain about the present combined with fondness for the past. You can tell that she has lived through the experience depicted in the song.
October 7, 2015 @ 9:27 pm
By the way, the video for this song is truly exquisite as well, and it might be worth embedding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNJwu-YkQlc
October 7, 2015 @ 9:44 pm
The women are the only ones keeping country radio remotely country. Female singers can pull off pop country because of their voices. The bros can’t sing and their music is shit, so it’s a double whammy.
October 7, 2015 @ 11:45 pm
I think you nailed it with your review Trigger . I’ve been a fan of this song since I first heard it several months ago . I knew it would be too good for country radio because it isn’t ” in your face enough’ energy or attitude- wise . It’s reflective , the lyric has time to wash over a listener as opposed to blasting him like he was being hit by a fire hose or a bursting rap- damn ( or is that ‘damn rap ” ? ) Its smart , emotional and REAL . The 25 year old girl in me totally relates to the weight of the lyric. I don’t even mind that it relies on some cliche bro imagery to make its case . That particular imagery is necessary to supply the contrasts and the all important time element in the narrative. And I LOVE JK’s delivery in this live Opry version . Its a damn good write .
October 8, 2015 @ 9:32 am
But it’s doing decent on radio, especially for a song like this. It’s in the Top 25 at the moment, and may crack the Top 20 in the coming weeks, especially with the release of her album. That’s why I think it’s an interesting case study.
October 8, 2015 @ 10:22 am
I’m not sure I’ve heard it played on radio ” in these parts” so I wasn’t aware it had charted. That’s great …even if it took 6 months to to do so ..I guess .
BTW another “boy” song with a short shelf life up here was FOR A BOY which in my opinion was another terrific write with a very clever way of turning that hook on its head AND a strong melody . The bro-stuff and now the pop/edm/rap/r & b stuff seems to have no grasp of how to use clever or irony in a lyric ….much less the ability to evoke SOME kind of emotional response . Often its the emotional response factor that stands the test of time .even if the song isn’t particularly well crafted .
October 8, 2015 @ 1:50 am
Generally speaking, Jana Kramer may not have the best voice, but she has an excellent ear for solid material. About a year or so ago, I was watching snippets of the movie “Heart of the Country”, and I was especially struck by this track at the end of the movie, called “Weeds and Wildflowers”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVM3aKR2n6s
Once again, her voice conveys a sense of bittersweet emotion very effectively, and this, along with the gorgeous piano instrumental and the warm lyrics, results in a song that truly packs an emotional punch.
October 8, 2015 @ 10:34 am
“Once again, her voice conveys a sense of bittersweet emotion very effectively, and this, along with the gorgeous piano instrumental and the warm lyrics, results in a song that truly packs an emotional punch.”
THIS is the voice you want to hear delivering this kind of lyric . NOT a Carrie or a Sara Evans ( as much as I’m a HUGE fan of both of those artists ) . JK has THE voice for this material …strong , yet able to emote from a place of yearning and sadness .
October 8, 2015 @ 3:52 am
When I heard this for the first time I thought ‘this is a classic Reba song’. And it’s just a shame that Kramer doesn’t have the voice (like Reba) to invest it with any real emotion.
October 8, 2015 @ 9:04 am
I thought there were some thematic similarities to Reba’s “Does He Love You”. But the vocal delivery does not even come close.
October 8, 2015 @ 8:42 am
Heard this song this morning for the first time, and my initial thought was: “Hey, that’s sounds kinda like country music!”
October 8, 2015 @ 10:29 am
‘Heard this song this morning for the first time, and my initial thought was: “Hey, that”™s sounds kinda like country music!”’
I think it has as much to do with JK’s unique way of delivering the story with a unique , yet very country-sounding voice . A lot of folks can’t get past Iris Dement’s voice cuz it sounds ” too hills ” but that is why its so special and why she can evoke emotional responses with the right narrative .THAT’s a great attribute to be blessed with as a country singer. John Cash barely carried a note in the proverbial paper bag but there was no denying the emotion in his voice and the capability inherent in that to evoke emotions from us . Most of the greats have that characteristic and have used it to connect with and connect US with a lyric. Sarah Buxton , Patty Loveless , Miranda ( House that built me ) …so many others have that gift of a voice that could sing the alphabet and find a way to move us .
October 8, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
Anybody listen to Kaitlin Butts? You should.
October 10, 2015 @ 11:29 am
Terrible song. I’m not a fan of pop country sorry
October 10, 2015 @ 11:37 am
Somebody please tell me I’m not going crazy, but I could swear I’ve heard this song before, at least a few years ago, though apparently this is a “new” song. Does anyone else remember a song with a similar theme or hook?
October 22, 2015 @ 10:00 am
We recently saw Jamie Lynn Spears in concert and she performed this song. I think she did it better and I kind of wish she’d kept it for herself or at least included her own version on her ep. But I do like Jana’s version as well.
October 28, 2015 @ 10:02 pm
I’ve always thought “I Got The Boy” was a good song. Finally had a chance to listen to the entire record. The rest of the album is a dumpster fire.
December 8, 2015 @ 8:02 pm
Am I the only one who is truly annoyed by her voice?
January 17, 2016 @ 9:34 pm
And then the album comes out and it’s garbage, other than this one song. Sad. The rest of the album is overproduced bad pop.
March 17, 2016 @ 1:46 pm
well. having read all of the Above…
what is there to ad.
hhhmn.
i suppose
this girl needs to forget about what mainstream may want
or her record label
and go for what is truly in her gut
another pop tune
no substance or soul
she has a chance if she goes
inward and forgets fame.
June 5, 2018 @ 5:04 pm
You review stuff like this, but never my stuff. And you think this is worthy?
June 13, 2022 @ 1:36 am
Good post guys!