As People Like Us continues it's (painfully) slow ascent of the pop charts, Miss Clarkson has wasted no time, throwing her hat, yet again, into the Country ring (Mr. Know It All Country Version, Don't You wanna Stay, and Don't Rush preceded it). But this is a much more dedicated effort from our multi-genre starlet.
So far, the Country world hasn't had any issues adopting the Pop Rock Queen. It made its debut at No.52 on Billboard's Country Songs, before any digital or radio release. It also is sitting nice and pretty in the Top 10 of iTunes Country charts. So a Country hit doesn't seem to far out of reach. Country smash might be a stretch, but a Top 20 hit is an almost guarantee. And thats great, considering what a great song it is.
It starts off in true Clarkson form, with some electric guitar chords setting the stage for her voice to kick in. She surprisingly shows off some lower register notes first, a dark land for a blatant Soprano. She then swells into the Church Bell led chorus, "Let's set the date / Let's Hire a band / Let's cut the cake / Tie up the cans" The blue grass influenced bridge soon follows, letting Kelly rip a power note before closing it out once more with the chorus.
This jam is pretty darn catchy, and pretty good. It's a much stronger Country effort than the cliche Don't Rush, and not a "sure lets try it out," kind of thing that resulted in Mr. Know It All being sent to Country radio. It seems unlikely to achieve pop crossover success, since its pretty blatant country, but hey, if Taylor Swift could do it, why not Kelly?
Vocals: A-
Lyrics: B+
Instrumentation: B+
Overall: B+