Happy Thanksgiving, brought to you by Canadian country music…
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[3.86]
Anthony Easton: The production of this is as terrible as the flatness of his voice, as are the lyrics, which verge on a whole mess of moral problems due to oversimplification, Kissel is better than this, but Canadians’ continued attempts to make country that sounds like Americans’ just embarrasses us. This is especially true in a year that brought us Dean Brody’s wryly self-parodic “Mountain Man,” and considering everything that Kira Isabella ever sang.
[2]
Thomas Inskeep: This Canadian country smash pulls in pretty much every “inspirational” country cliche.
[3]
Alfred Soto: The songwriters might have collected lyrics from a Hallmark card clearance sale, and Kissel can’t find a single surprising inflection, but his determination in the chorus to keep his cool is persuasive, like the C+ student who no doubt works hard.
[4]
Will Adams: The complex emotions I felt when I saw my own grandfather lowered into the ground at four years old don’t really match the complex emotions I’ve felt when trying to win a girl back.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Half of “Tough People Do” is welcome embrace-your-emotions pep talk, the other is awkward bootstrap rhetoric, but all of it…and any potential tension…is wasted on pretty boring music.
[5]
Brad Shoup: You can tell when the song’s built around the bumper sticker. The second verse — which Kissel leaps into from the chorus — fucks up its verb tenses and offers a startling drop in specificity. He can’t make the song cry, and neither can the AOR guitar or the trailing steel.
[3]
David Moore: I assumed this was going to blossom into a staunchly masculine “suck it up” message, but instead it wavers — quivers like a lip, maybe. Turns out it’s OK to cry (a lot, even) before settling into vague affirmations to stay tough. How easily it could have been “ain’t no USE in cryin’,” instead of its kinda-brave “ain’t no crime in cryin’.” Which doesn’t make the song any less of a snooze, but points for trying, appropriately enough.
[6]