I never thought I’d say this but bring back the tequila.
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[3.62]
Patrick St. Michel: Kenny Chesney cut up a bunch of New York Times trend stories and drew them out of a hat, I guess.
[1]
Anthony Easton: The last track they did together suggested something novel, or at least their personalities were completely absent. Here, Kenny is literally singing over her and one wonders why she is even there — not that the lyrics say anything worth listening to. I don’t know what would be worse: the constant chasing of new sounds risking embarrassment, or the refusal to grow up and out of old ruts. Kenny avoids doing either.
[2]
Alfred Soto: If he’s going to call his beloved a sugar plum pony with hooves of steel, then the song should sound wilder than a bucket of old cleaning water.
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: No true wild child would sing soft, sweet backup to her lover’s soppy ballad. Especially not if when it’s a depressive sticks-y dream version of “Drops of Jupiter.”
[2]
Josh Love: At the age of 47(!), these are the descriptors Kenny Chesney uses for a woman who’s got him “so in love” — “wild child,” “calico pony,” “so simple yet experimental.” Toss in a reference to a teenage groupie from the 70s and daddish befuddlement at Bonnaroo and Burning Man and this song couldn’t be more of a midlife crisis if it was blaring out of the convertible of a guy with a ponytail in a Cialis commercial.
[2]
Micha Cavaseno: In which Kenny Chesney bores the hell out of all the female Aquariuses this song is penned for, thereby losing them and consistently satisfying the bittersweet quality found. Job well done K.C.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: Like “American Kids,” this suggests a more mature Chesney, a bit more wistful and not nearly so “Margaritaville”-tastic. In the second verse, he reference’s Almost Famous‘s “Penny Lane,” along with Burning Man and Bonnaroo: pretty sure I’ve never heard those references on country radio before (credit, I’m guessing, goes to cowriter Shane McAnally). Potter’s here to provide lovely counterpoint harmonies, and does, while Buddy Cannon and Chesney himself keep the production defiantly subdued, mostly quiet, strummy guitars. This is absolutely lovely.
[7]
Ramzi Awn: Chesney’s voice is as sweet as ever, and he doesn’t mince his words in “Wild Child.” The bars are measured, short, and sweet, and the bridge is right on time. Already a last.fm staple, surely.
[8]