…Connor Smallnut?…
[Video][Website]
[3.67]
Megan Harrington: As you’re reading this, please know that I’m wishing on every star that I’m not the only person who went here, but Cole Swindell has basically repurposed Mest’s “Cadillac” for his bro-country audience. And even back when I (ugh, it’s true) listened to Mest, I felt like they were too close to a wimpy pop-punk spin on “Face Down Ass Up.” So, though I’ve had to wait almost 25 years to complete this timeline, I can confidently say Swindell is third on a match and I’d like to personally bomb his bunker.
[1]
Alfred Soto: Shades on and top back, Swindell is besotted with sunsets and killin’ it and rockin’ it. The banjo and accent signal country, the vocal nods towards college years spent going to Uncle Kracker shows with bros.
[2]
David Sheffieck: Hits cruise control so early that I think I fell asleep about halfway through. I’d like to at least appreciate Swindell’s unintended invention of an antonym for “killin it,” but unfortunately it’s been a few years since I’ve even heard someone say that.
[1]
Anthony Easton: Sometimes I wish that second- or third-tier country singers, when they talk about what they want to do with women, would provide details. Just chillin’ it does not provide enough details to be useful. Also, as much as I defend frat boy pleasure for pleasure’s sake, this being No. 1 makes me more sympathetic to critics of New Nashville. Maybe there are enough songs about pretty girls and trucks, which is sad because I really like Kip Moore — though not enough for a third-rate Xerox.
[3]
Iain Mew: The differences between chillin’ it, killin’ it and rockin’ wit’ get blurrier by the minute, but it works in a song that successfully conveys being content come what may. It’s like a “Cruise” that actually cruises.
[7]
Patrick St. Michel: Damn, Cole Swindell is a hell of a name, way too good to be true. Where does that one rank in the pantheon of great country singer names? I asked my friend Jonathan for other great named country acts, and I think Cole Swindell falls somewhere between Hawkshaw Hawkins and Skeets McDonald, though not nearly as good as Ferlin Husky. The song isn’t nearly as fun as thinking about names, smooth and easy going but ultimately a far less memorable version of the latest Florida Georgia Line song (which Cole Swindell co-wrote) that also can’t commit to the semi-rap on display in “This Is How We Roll.” But dang, dude has one of the best names in modern country.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: The first few seconds sound, improbably, like Tori Amos. The rest sound like your dad flirting at a party. (Or the Oregon Trail II soundtrack.) This isn’t even frat-country — that’d be bigger and more vulgar — so much as frat-pledge.
[3]
Edward Okulicz: I feel like this is trying to tick all the bro-country cliche boxes, but it’d be more insightful to give it a more competency-based assessment rather than counting ticks — less yes/no and more satisfactory/needs improvement/unsatisfactory — so let’s begin. Ultra-chill bro-country-influenced-a-bit-by-rap chorus? Needs improvement. Conveying love of beer and women and cars and country radio? Needs improvement. Laid-back guitar chug? Needs improvement, and needs that annoying background whistle-theremin noise gone now.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Total chug-by-numbers on first glance. But there’s the diminished vocal presence: definitely unpolished, maybe shy. He’s practically doing his own karaoke. The band pours pure candy: a little fake theremin, some behind-the-beat power chordage that’s as bashful as its charge. He sounds like he has faith in the pickup ode, and that’s amazing. Nearly as much is the way he pronounces “kisses”.
[7]