“Good” may be a stretch for some, but controversial is not!
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[4.92]
Ian Mathers: “You know, when I asked how things were going since the divorce, I didn’t actually need this level of specificity. Also it’s weird that your brothers are here.”
[3]
Thomas Inskeep: What the fuck happened?!? The Band Perry’s last album, their 2013 sophomore effort Pioneer, is a sublime, Rick Rubin-helmed country record. And now apparently they want to be, what? Chainsmokers? Actually, this isn’t even that good; it sounds more like a Paris Hilton record. I’m embarrassed for them just listening to this.
[1]
Katie Gill: You’ve got to give The Band Perry some props. If they kept putting out songs along their earlier sound, more music like “Chainsaw” or “If I Died Young,” they would probably still have halfway decent airplay on CMT. Instead, whether it’s due to a musical evolution or (what I’d put my money on) blatant trend chasing, The Band Perry refuse to be limited by their best known sound. That being said, holy shit this song is grating, obnoxious, and downright immature at points.
[3]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: “Glad I never had your baby / This will be a cleaner cut / You can keep the labradors”: three lines so simple, so cutting, so savage, that while stationary biking at the gym, I literally had to stop pedaling, clutch my pearls, and whisper “Oh my god” when I listened to this for the first time. I shouldn’t quote the whole song line by line, so here’s another highlight that deserves special mention: “I don’t wanna still be friends / I just wanna break your neck.” No words minced here, just the most systematic takedown of a cheating bastard since “Sorry” or “Before He Cheats,” made even more thrilling because of how unexpected it is coming from The Band Perry.
[7]
David Moore: The Band Perry does the reverse Lil Nas X and takes their big dark energy to the hip-hop charts…ten years ago. But hey, I loved 808s and Heartbreak, and Kanye never wrote a line as ice cold as “you can keep the Labradors.” Damn, dude, she doesn’t even care about the dogs anymore, you must have really fucked up!
[7]
Joshua Lu: Even despite the colossal genre difference, this song reminds me of how in the chorus of “If I Die Young,” The Band Perry progressively got more ridiculous with every line, with requests of satin, some roses, a sunrise, and then a love song. In “The Good Life,” they similarly don’t know where to stop their wonky details, except instead of romantic imagery, they utilize awkward slang (“bro” is barely tolerable; “hoes” isn’t at all) and clumsy statements (“You can keep the labradors/
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: Those invested in The Band Perry’s country career likely see this as a trend-chasing outrage — at least “Old Town Road” mentioned a tractor! Fortunately, I am not invested in their country career, and can thus recognize this as one of the best pop singles of 2019. You can too: Pretend it’s the new Kelly Clarkson single, which it basically is, plus Kanye’s “Heartless.” (Kris Allen strummed so The Band Perry could burble.) The only country remnants are the specificity in the first verse, but unlike crossover patient zero “The Middle,” “The Good Life” isn’t remotely shiny. Nor is it remotely chill, nor really conversant with the pop zeitgeist. (The bridge, with its lone spotlight synth, kiiinda resembles something Max Martin might write, but five years ago, and only if you stretch.) Instead, the level of bitterness equals Natalie Imbruglia’s “Want” and maybe even approaches Tori’s “Blood Roses” (that second verse comes awfully close).
[9]
Alfred Soto: Grant them this: if “The Good Life” is Nashville, I’m Squeaky Fromme. “I just wanna break your neck,” Kimberly Perry coos over a wobbly electrobass backdrop. Too outre for Nashville, perhaps, not outre enough for contemporary pop, where wobbliness is the coin of the realm.
[5]
Michael Hong: So The Band Perry are releasing “edgy” Spotify-core synth-pop now, huh? While the whole thing has the distinct markings of a club track, it simply feels lifeless because the vocals, coated in their hazy atmosphere, only dull the pulsing synth. That lifelessness creeps into their lyrics, and The Band Perry’s attempt at something devastating with the line “you gave it up for hoes” never really registers because of it.
[2]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Coordinates indicated that The Band Perry were aiming for new musical territories, but “The Good Life” is the song they needed to justify the change. The new sonic direction and dramatic synthwork help sell the disgust in the lyrics: the revulsion of prior physical intimacy, the remorseless desire to snap necks, the relief that she never bore children with this dude. That the lyrics are analogous to things we often hear in country music only makes them feel more caustic, like the severity of ill-will that Kimberly harbors is fully unveiled in a way that couldn’t in country pop radio. The vocal delivery is clunky at times, but it’s honestly these moments of awkwardness that sell the song–after all, how often are post-break up diatribes flawlessly executed? The 808s & Heartbreak-indebted bridge is a fun bit of worthwhile, borrowed empowerment. The “Good Life” that Kimberly’s seeking, though, is a bit different than what Kanye ever talked about; she wants retribution, and it’s palpable.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: When I close my mind and pretend this is a new single by, like, The Veronicas, I love it, because it’s like a perfect even more bitter follow up to their “Think of Me.” But it’s still great as a new single by The Recording Entity Perry too. The jagged edges of the music aren’t revolutionary, but they provide something of a distorted mirror to reflect the ugly twistedness of the vocals and the story. To me, the overall effect is that of impotent rage against an indifferent target, which makes it more relatable than is comfortable.
[8]
Hannah Jocelyn: It’s not as bad as contemporary Little Big Town’s horrible pop crossover, but it’s really weird. Despite the intent, Kim Perry says ‘hoes’ like a 12 year-old cursing, and the “damn good rhyme/line” lyrics would be okay if there were more damn good rhymes/lines in the song. (There are some good lyrics, but they’re scattered and don’t rhyme – “Sick I ever touched your body/Sick you ever tasted mine” is one such oasis.) The titular line doesn’t work as a hook. The distorted 808s don’t work as the beat either. Nothing coheres whatsoever, but there are enough interesting elements to make this listenable, if only as a curio.
[5]