Fresh off her debut single ‘I Hope’ hitting number one, former American Idol finalist Gabby Barrett released her debut album ‘Goldmine’ on Friday. As someone who watched her run on Idol and was admittedly not a fan, I didn’t have high hopes for this album. I was intrigued by ‘I Hope’ and thought if the music stayed on that level, I might be wrong about her. Unfortunately, with a couple exceptions, her album is not exciting.
Vocally, I am having a hard time determining who Gabby is as an artist. It’s one thing to be dynamic and have different sounds for different songs. What I get from her music though is her trying to imitate other artists. ‘Footprints on the Moon’ might be the most authentic she’s sounded, and it made me crave more songs like that, which we didn’t get. On title track ‘Goldmine,’ it’s hard to focus on the lyrics when it feels like you’re being screamed at. There’s powerful vocals, which she has, then there’s over the top yelling. Even the former, which had the most rock elements, didn’t yell like this did.
The subject matter in many of these songs are problematic given the current climate of females trying to fight for equality in country music. There are no less than six songs, half the album, that are about how much she loves her man. The biggest issues though are toward the end of the album with ‘Rose Needs a Jack’ and ‘Strong’. She’s basically saying how she doesn’t care about independent women and they can’t survive without a good man by their side. If that’s her upbringing and her belief system that’s fine, but given the progress made recently, it feels a little tone deaf to release music like this now. It’s hard to take songs like ‘Footprints on the Moon’ and ‘Jesus & My Mama’ about empowerment seriously when it’s clear she feels differently.
To listen to ‘Goldmine,’ click here.
