Hey everyone it’s Alex and welcome back to the final installment of Stars and Guitars’ year-end recap of the best and worst that country music had to offer in 2020. We are concluding our three-part series with the best and worst songs from this year. The criteria for this list is that you wouldn’t necessarily have needed to hear these song on the radio, but they needed to be heard by the public for the first time in 2020. As always, let’s start by discussing some songs that are not worth your time.
Let’s kick it off with probably the most well-known of these worst songs, Kane Brown’s ‘Cool Again.’ It’s repetitive, poorly written, and if it’s possible, I think my IQ drops just a little every time I hear it. If an ex was trying to win me back with this song, I’d consider myself lucky that they are an ex.
Moving onto what can only be described as the two most tone-deaf songs this year, we have ‘That Ain’t Beautiful’ by Sam Hunt and ‘Rose Needs a Jack’ by Gabby Barrett. For Hunt, an otherwise very solid sophomore album ‘Southside’ was derailed by a song that is basically the musical equivalent of slut-shaming. While most guys try to sing about how no matter what they will always find their significant other beautiful, Hunt takes the opposite approach by saying that she’s not good enough the way she is. The intention might have been to try and encourage female listeners to hold themselves to a higher standard, but the result just comes off as misogynistic and creepy. Barrett on the other hand tries to tell all her female listeners that they are going nowhere unless they have a good man by their side. I don’t know about you, but in a year that saw great strides for female artists in country music, I think recording a song about wanting a co-dependent relationship as a goal for yourself is maybe not the message you should be sending to your audience.
‘When This Is Over,’ a collaboration between Jimmie Allen, the legendary Oak Ridge Boys, actress/singer Rita Wilson and Christian artist Tauren Wells, just has too many hands in the cookie jar. It’s almost as if when a new voice is introduced, a new song has started. There are clashes in production and as the song progressed, I couldn’t even wait for it to be over. But the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to singular songs this year has to be ‘Country & Ya Know It’ by Granger Smith featuring Earl Dibbles Jr. Now you might be asking yourself, who is Earl Dibbles Jr.? Well, that is Granger Smith’s on-stage alter ego. He thought it was a good idea to bill a song as a duet with himself! And if things aren’t already bad, this song’s hook is “if you’re country and ya know it, drink a beer.” So he took a children’s song that most people sang in preschool, made it about beer and made it a “duet” with a non-existent person. That’s like Beyonce singing ‘Wheels On The Bus’ with Sasha Fierce. I’d like to erase that from my memory please.
Moving on to some of the gems of this year, let’s start off with ‘Gabrielle’ by Brett Eldredge. This song had a nice 70s vibe to it, while still feeling incredibly current. Eldredge was able to take a sad topic about a lost love and turn it into a song that you just can’t get out of your head. Sometimes it can seem like he over-sings some of his songs or live performances, but he was able to hit just the right balance of belting and subtlety with this one. It fires on all cylinders.
Fans of Luke Combs will be familiar with this next song, but you’re forgiven if you didn’t know it existed. ‘When It’s Raining’ is a song that Combs debuted on Instagram Live in March, right at the beginning of quarantine. While the song was not written with the pandemic in mind, one can’t help but find it comforting. As the song states, while we’re all dealing with uncertain times, we sometimes just have to brace for impact and wait for the storm to pass. Combs has not officially released a studio version of this song, but I have no doubt that if he does, it’s guaranteed to become a massive hit.
Kelsea Ballerini and pop sensation Halsey hit it out of the park with their duet ‘the other girl.’ The song finds two women who form a bond because they were both deceived by the same man. A more modern, pop-leaning spin on country classic ‘Does He Love You?’, this song allows both parties to express their anger, not at each other, but at the guy that’s been lying to both of them. If this song is any indication, I wouldn’t want to be on either lady’s bad side.
The final two songs on this list are incredibly emotional, for very different reasons. Mickey Guyton released her career-defining song ‘Black Like Me’ in June, on the heels of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police that sparked national attention and called for greater racial equality. What followed was a painful story of a woman who has never felt free in the most free country in the world. Here’s hoping that the strides America has taken in second half of 2020 will allow younger Black Americans to not have to feel the anguish that Guyton felt growing up.
And finally, the most recent official release on this list, we have Carly Pearce’s ‘Show Me Around’, dedicated to her producer and friend busbee, who died of brain cancer in September 2019. First heard in a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in June, the song asks a loved one who has passed on to help acclimate her to Heaven when they are able to meet again. While there is definitely a sad aspect to this song, there is hope that what we find when we leave this Earth will be better than what we have now. It’s a great way to put an uplifting spin on a year that for most has not been very positive.
And that concludes Stars and Guitars recap of all things good and bad about 2020 in the world of country music. Leave a comment down below with your favorite (or least favorite) songs from this year. On behalf of the whole team here at Stars and Guitars I’d like to wish a happy, healthy and safe new year. I’m personally looking forward to what country music has in store for 2021. Take care.
