It’s been three years, but Brett Young is finally back with his latest album. His third full-length project, ‘Weekends Look A Little Different These Days,’ is a tribute to family life, with a bit of sadness mixed in. Young has a fresh perspective on life and music since getting married and having children. The added punch of emotion behind some of these lyrics is just what he needed to keep his career on the upward trajectory of his previous releases.
Let’s start with the lead single and top ten hit ‘Lady’. It’s hard to say much that hasn’t already been said about this song, but you could almost feel Young about to burst with pride and joy over his unborn baby girl. Young’s soulful voice shines here as he makes you feel every emotion he must be feeling as he talks to a sonogram. The heartbeat at the very end gives it that nice extra touch of reality. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he uses his voice to break your heart on the breakup ballad ‘You Didn’t’. As much as he would like the other person to love him, he’s glad that she’s being honest with herself and not staying in the relationship for fear of hurting him. Every listener can relate to unrequited love and the best songs come from a real place.
If we’re looking for songs that aren’t of the highest quality, title track ‘Weekends Look A Little Different These Days’ just misses the mark. Country ballads can be tricky to find the right balance of emotion without being cheesy. This song doesn’t quite hit that sweet spot I was looking for when it came to lyrics and delivery. ‘This’ is the type of song we’ve heard before, sometimes with the exact same title. A relationship needs to get through all the hardships to get where they are today. The same subject matter has been done so many times, I don’t feel like there’s any way to make it fresh enough to not point to a song that executes it better.
When he’s on, Brett Young can make you cry with one note. There’s definitely moments of that on this album, but he doesn’t quite maintain that throughout the collection. To decide for yourself, listen to ‘Weekends Look A Little Different These Days’ here.
