These past two weeks in country music have been nothing short of pure insanity. From great songs like “Backup Plan” by Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs to highly anticipated albums like Blake Shelton’s first album in four years in “For Recreational Use Only”, there was something for everyone these past couple of weeks. Also the ACM awards happened on Thursday the 8th so we will look back at the biggest moments from that.
Let us start off with a couple of singles that were released these past couple of weeks. First off, Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs dropped their new song “Backup Plan” to critical and commercial fanfare. This song defines what country music is today with the whole flow and structure of the song with Luke Combs’ signature voice standing out the most here. This song is probably gonna be up there for contention for country song of the summer when it is all said and done.
In contrast, Megan Moroney and Kenny Chesney released their duet with “You Had to Be There”. This song (just like Backup Plan) defines country music today but in a different way. THIS is how you do a collaboration and the way that they have Kenny almost solely providing backup vocals to Megan is so perfect; This is “peak”.
Thomas Rhett dropped his deluxe album to his “About A Woman” album with 5 brand new tracks on it. There is only one track here worth talking about and that is “Small Town Girls” featuring Tucker Whetmore. This song is definitely the catchiest song that came out these past couple of weeks. It has a nice flow and these two mesh really well together.
HARDY finally dropped his EP in “COUNTRY!” to mixed reactions. Personally speaking, I think it was great but people are saying that it is pretty much the same style of song over and over and over again and that’s fine, people have the right to say their opinion on something; they’re wrong but I have nothing against them for saying that. My favorite song from the EP was “Car That Drove You Away”.
Blake Shelton dropped his 13th studio album “For Recreational Use Only” to a lot of praise. This album might just be the best country album that has come out all year so far. The flow of this album is unmatched, there is only one mediocre song on the album, but other than that, this is probably (in my opinion) the best album that Blake Shelton has ever put out; 10/10 album for me easily.
Also the 60th annual ACM awards took place where it is receiving the most backlash I’ve ever seen from an award show. The performances were great in my opinion with the stand out being the opening where they performed a song from every decade over the past 60 years. The main issue was the awards where you give Chris Stapleton (who didn’t even put out music this past year) win best male artist. They also gave Lainey Wilson the entertainer of the year which I have no problem with but when Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Zach Bryan earn a combined 0 awards, it is baffling.
Other than that a couple other little things happened in the world of country music. A dream collaboration of three generations of country music in Reba, Miranda Lambert, and Lainey Wilson dropped their song “Trailblazer” which was really good and Morgan Wallen FINALLY dropping his song “Superman” just to name a few. These past couple of weeks was the calm before the storm which is Morgan Wallen dropping his album “I’m The Problem” on the 16th.
