Note to future Jukebox contenders: Shakira shout-outs won’t buy our love…
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[5.50]
Will Adams: Wait, do you think that “rockin’ that trailer” is a euphemism for… sex???
[4]
Iain Mew: “That’s right. You know what’s really going on in there”. Wait, you mean they aren’t actually having sex like all of the single entendres so far suggested? Now I’m confused.
[5]
Anthony Easton: I am confused by the phrase “James Dean in a pickup truck,” because James Dean seems to be a kind of outdated sign for a song that spends so much time working on being contemporary (the throwaway Shakira line, the reclaiming of a white trash rock and roll Southern strategy, etc). It’s the only incongruous element in a song that is intended to chart.
[8]
Brad Shoup: A Shakira namecheck in a country song! It almost compensates for the awful compression. This plays like a relic from an alternate universe in which instead of meeting Shania, Mutt Lange haunted a series of Coyote Uglies until he found the ideally malleable protégé. Super gross, from the full-nude riffage to the call-and-response with the sleazoid bass voice.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Not only does this Coyote Ugly example of country substitute a fiddle for a second guitar and references to Shakira for Tammy or Loretta, but when Bain wants to talk-sing for that tough-cookie effect she summons Shania Twain. An awful lot of rawk to live down. Or rise above. I can’t tell which she prefers.
[5]
Alex Ostroff: Hey! Jamieson! Our demographic is being targeted! What demographic is that, exactly? Canadian boyz raised on hiccupy-voiced turn of the millennium pop stars, girl grunge descendants and spoken word Shania interludes. The guitars pound a bit too heavy for this to be proper Twain revivalism, and there’s not quite enough sass in the outro for it to conjure memories of “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” but the general spirit of fun is perfect. With a little less of Ashlee’s growl in her voice, Bain might eventually make the self-aware winking sound charmingly knowing instead of awkwardly forced.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: Of course it’s reminiscent of Shania, but the half-there vocals, lyrical teases and Shakira (read: pop) shoutouts are reminiscent even more of Willa Ford. There was a discussion a year or so ago suggesting Taylor Swift’s a Sheryl Crow-Vanessa Carlton analogue, and the Jake Owen types could be said to be the alt-rocker-types of 20 years ago; is country radio just trying to recreate the turn of the musical century? (And is it purposefully trying to filter out any electronic/hip-hop influences? At least Willa got Royce da 5’9.) If so, “Rockin’ That Trailer” is exactly as good and necessary as Ford’s song was.
[6]
Ramzi Awn: Starts to sound good the second time around, but still barely memorable. This would work well enough as radio filler, but I think I’m gonna put on “Before He Cheats” for now.
[5]