And if you were looking for a song you can listen to in less time than it takes to read one of our entries, there’s this.
[Video][Website]
[5.56]
Anthony Easton: I keep being really interested in the unreleased album Moore recorded before this one, because the singles were more difficult, and the commitment to Springsteen led to difficult discussions of religion. Moore’s voice seems stretched here, the lyrics are kind of terrible, and the production is mid-period Bon Jovi. I think that critics have to be careful about fetishizing the lost, or giving a shit about selling out–this isn’t Smile, and Smile wasn’t that good anyways, but when the marketing is more interesting than the music, it’s hard not to make meta arguments.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: He might spend the entire song saying “I’m a special snowflake, but one of those bad ones you don’t want near your family,” but Kip Moore was very nice to make the whole song bouncy.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Straining to crack as wise as those snare drums, Moore huffs and puffs, sticking his chest out hoping the effort doesn’t break a rib.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: Sounding like a Bon Jovi single with a St. Anger-style trashcan lid snare, Kip here’s playing it real hoary and raspy. To be honest, there’s no amount of hair metal comparisons I could stop with in this stompalong, with the same sort of cocksure ‘rebel badassery’ married to such a weak riff. On a banjo nonetheless. At the end of the day, Kip isn’t to blame, because he’s embodying a song format that was done to death before I was born, and he’s just not the guy to overturn how terrible it is.
[2]
Madeleine Lee: As someone with an academic interest in performative masculinity, I appreciate how formalist an example this is, from Moore’s twang on “lighter” to the ostentatiously abrupt running time. Then again, you can get the same idea in under 30 seconds from any car oil commercial.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: Not only better than when Bon Jovi “went country,” this is better than most of their oeuvre, period. “I’m To Blame” sounds more like ’00’s Jovi, but has the lyrical sass of Slippery When Wet (“Where there’s a ‘do not touch’/My fingerprint done stained it”). Added bonus: this gets in, does its job, and gets out in a remarkably snappy 2:15.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: No, Kip, you can put yourself down all you like but you’re actually a jaunty little angel who wouldn’t, no.. couldn’t hurt a fly. Movement speaks louder than words.
[7]
Megan Harrington: When my sister first moved to New York City I visited her and she took me to the Met because I like culture but I don’t really like art. And, probably hungover, we walked all around that museum, killing time as much as taking in the different worlds. By the time we were back near the gift shop I was pretty tired and my feet hurt so I sat down. Immediately my sister is flipping out and yelling at me. “What? What?” I was defacing some gigantic sculpture or other with my ass. So, I really relate to Kip Moore, because I, too, am a bit of a badass.
[8]
Ramzi Awn: A surefire bar favorite. You can’t argue with that.
[7]