Kellie Pickler and Carrie Underwood inspire a new generation.
[Video][Website]
[5.29]
Katherine St Asaph: That sly spoken word bit at the end of the chorus is great, like some hypothetical country turn by a certain daughter of Pebe Sebert’s. Ballerini got dibs on a highly proven riff, too, and it’s refreshing to hear a young female country artist who’s not the ingenuously besotten sort.
[6]
Thomas Inskeep: This is so baby-Carrie-Underwood it’s adorable. Ballerini’s got an appealing twang and a not too sugary song to use it on that’s believable coming from her 21-year-old voice. “Dibs” won’t change the world, but it’s charming.
[6]
Alfred Soto: She speeds up her deliver on the chorus so that her emotions don’t outpace her explanations for them, but the banjo melody flirts with the saccharine. I’m thinking Kellie Pickler could have given “I’m callin’ dibs” some teeth.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: Years ago, Steve Albini threw a fit when Andy Wallace got his hands on the mixes of Helmet’s “Unsung’ and decided to double up the already thunderous kicks of John Stainer with a subtle 808 kick for a commercial edge. Something about mixing and authenticity or whatever. The point is, the first thing that pops out when I hear Kelsea Ballerini’s record is the kick on this record. Everything here sounds artificial, those acoustic guitar strums sounding belched out, the ‘Ayyyy’ adlibs on the hook — I gotta hand it to whoever produced this record, for they left nothing to chance. This shit is mixed to turn your car into a roving air-pocket of bass and thud — not a bad thing as the song itself will be reduced to the distortion and thereby made a lot more interesting.
[3]
David Sheffieck: The production evokes Dixie Chicks at their peak, and if Ballerini could maybe bring a bit more attitude to her vocal it’s only because the lyric packs so much on its own. Full of command and cheek, “Dibs” is driven both by lines as good as “If you’ve got a kiss on your lips that you’re looking for somebody to take” and by the self-confidence it takes to brag about your newest trophy.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Her best voice is her speaking voice. But while everyone’s going to retread the stuttering DJ Mustard Potato Salad beat, no one will give her the chance to go song-length with some spoken word.
[3]
Mo Kim: Besides the fact that I misspelled her name “Chelsea Balleringi” when Googling her, Kelsea Ballerini’s most distinctive feature as a musician is her ability to wrap her tongue around surprisingly twisty rhythms, a skill that serves her well in the chorus. One has to think of an owl-eyed fourteen-year-old meticulously doodling her crush’s name, the seriousness of the endeavor enhancing the silliness of it all. Though she strikes me as a bit nondescript otherwise, “Dibs” is a nice bite-sized chunk of country-pop that wins over its generic reference points with sing-along charm.
[6]