The concept of a deluxe album arriving anywhere from 3-12 months after the original is one that needs to die. It rarely delivers the same quality or theme as the initial collection of songs an artist drops, nor does it ever breathe life into a project as effectively as management teams and labels hope.
Yet it doesn’t seem to stop anyone from doing it. Not only did we see Taylor Swift drop a stinker with The Life of a Showgirl: Encore this weekend, but we also witnessed something that didn’t seem possible: Graham Barham’s CLUB COUNTRY: AFTERPARTY, which takes his debut album and somehow makes it worse.
Barham has never claimed to be the next George Jones or Keith Whitley, but his blend of bottom-barrel bro-country and EDM beats hasn’t exactly paved the way for quality tunes from the “OIL MONEY” singer. His debut album, CLUB COUNTRY, carried the same production and musical stylings as the string of singles he had been releasing in the lead-up to the project, all while trying to prove he doesn’t care about people’s opinions of him while harping relentlessly on people’s opinions and how much he cares about them.
Following the album’s closer, “MEAN STREAK,” you’re met with a Wiz Khalifa collaboration on the AFTERPARTY deluxe. Out of all the country artists who try to make a hip-hop song with a rapper, Barham seems to be most enthusiastic about embracing the cross-genre chaos, but it doesn’t lead to a song that’s anywhere nearly as impactful as something like “Broadway Girls” with Lil Durk or the “Cruise” remix with Nelly. Instead, Wiz’s bars are lazy and barely present, while Barham sounds like an excited schoolboy who can’t believe he convinced a rapper to do a song with him.
Afterwards, there are four more songs to get through, all of which sound like the fat Barham cut off the album to initially condense it, but later smushed back on. In all honesty, the string of songs does give us one that sounds remotely like a real song, with “TAILSPIN” boasting a level of soul that’s oftentimes missing from Barham’s music.
But everything else just sounds like an afterthought. The themes are consistent with the rest of the album, but even if you’re a fan of his music, you won’t find anything gripping or interesting. “NICE WITH IT” just obsesses over a woman’s appearance in uninspired ways, while “CRY ME A BOTTLE” sounds like an incel tried to be an F-boy for the first time in his life and it didn’t work. It all just sounds like the club shut down, you’re high and hungover, and wake up at 6 am with vomit on your shirt and still hear the blaring music in your head.
Not only do these songs feel like a waste of time for Barham and his producers in the studio, but it also destroys the ending of the album, as many deluxe albums do. As corny as it was, “MEAN STREAK” did set out to close the album on a somewhat emotional note, with Barham relaying his upbringing and his dreams of becoming a major artist one day. For that song to play and immediately get hit in the face with five D-list tracks wrecks any impact CLUB COUNTRY had when it first released. Now, it just feels like a blurry night you vaguely remember, and every time you do, your head throbs from the Jack Daniels you consumed that night.
Stick to the original version of Barham’s debut if you insist upon playing his music. For everyone else, don’t let a rogue Wiz Khalifa feature tempt you to hit play.
