I Can’t Love You Anymore – Ella Langley feat. Morgan Wallen Written By Aishwarya Rajan
Some aspects of musical history are meant to be revisited, rather than re-inventing the wheel. When the spirit of something worn successfully consorts with modern frills, the result can set records that survive generations. Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” gave Miley Cyrus “Midnight Sky,” Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T” paved the way for Kanye West’s “Good Life,” and Ella Langley’s latest release, featuring Morgan Wallen, harnesses this same characteristic. When the Alabama native claimed that much of her latest album was inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the statement felt like a stretch. That is, until now. This vision was perfectly rendered by what may be the biggest single of 2026. “I Can’t Love You Anymore” is a meeting of the minds; it is the middle-ground between Langley’s fanbase that never made it out of her hungover era and those utterly engrossed by the pop-funk beats of Dandelion. Playing a game of mixology, the production flirts with dampened synth textures that create subtle, eerie tones, as Langley and Wallen’s voices play harmony tag reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies.” The duo’s performance is as tender as it is heartbreaking, entrenching listeners in the same pain and despair they sing of. Wallen’s vocals come through with a rare delicacy that effortlessly infuses with Ella’s sweet undertone. For anyone who has followed the duo’s attempt at recreating “What I Want” during the I’m the Problem Tour, “I Can’t Love You Anymore” is a welcome surprise. This time, every layer of harmonization proves a musical chemistry in which two voices so naturally intertwine in conversation about being unable to love the other anymore.
9.4
Blue Skies – Ryan Bingham Written By Adam Delahoussaye
In between the sticky, sweaty stomping grounds of cowboys illuminated in neon, the American Southwest can get pretty lonely. Ryan Bingham, a siloed silhouette of the ghosts that live there, has always seemed to exist in those spaces between the regions’ signs of life, a dry, airy voice wisping like the wind and an old acoustic creaking in harmony with some well-worn brakes on an old truck. Those big, empty spaces naturally leave a lot of time for rumination. For Bingham, now entering his first full-length LP in seven years, you get the sense that those fluttering thoughts have had the chance to blend into some pretty concise meditations. “Blue Skies,” the newest single from that return to form, is equal parts observation and diagnosis of the emptiness and its subsequent silence. When speaking to human nature, he suggests that the truth of a person is “always between your eyes when you ain’t got nothing left to lose” before demonstrating such in the chorus. There, he bellows, “wouldn’t trade a blue sky honey for the way I feel for you” with an ensemble of lost souls behind him. Pianist Daniel Creamer and Cody Huggins perfectly place the optical and aerial imagery on the steel, the two mirroring shooting stars seen through eyeballs and windshields, suggesting a sort of conversation between them. The track is pretty all-encompassing in its themes of isolation, but it’s comforting to know someone is sharing the feeling, even if it sounds like they’re on the other end of the universe.
7.3
Demons In Your Choir – The Red Clay Strays Written By Adam Delahoussaye
For all the fire and brimstone rhetoric that Brandon Coleman is spewing from the pulpit through this particular sermon, his delivery on “Demons In Your Choir” remains keenly warm, like sunlight slowly peering through the stained glass and down on a Sunday morning service. The rest of the outfit creeps in about as slowly as a dawn of the Sabbath, too, with keys and guitars slowly sliding into the pews one after the other to join in on a rousing chorus. Gentle but mounting, the song doesn’t feel like it’s asking much of anyone despite its evangelical overtones. On Made By These Moments, the crew dipped their toes into some religious subtext and southern gospel overtone. Still, this address isn’t pulling any punches despite its merciful, glowy outer layer. Coleman, as direct as his message is, still manages to keep his yelps and outcries flourishing in its weak and warbly moments rather than play too far into the overbearing preacher trope. Even with what might be a pretty accosting shank to the side for their forlorn sinner of a subject, the group has matured in the sense that they realize even the most hard-to-swallow pills can be given with a sense of grace. The Red Clay Strays seem fine with the fact that some may have to meet their message halfway. At least they’ve already got you in the building.
7.5
Campdraft Queen – Mack Geiger Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
In the country music world, Mack Geiger is a new name on the radar, and his viral song “String By” has an inescapable tendency to get stuck in your head. Geiger is an Australian singer, which is why terms in his new single like “campdraft,” “the swag,” and “stationhand” might not immediately click. Campdrafting is a challenging Australian horse sport, and in “Campdraft Queen,” Geiger tells the tale of himself, a “stationhand” (essentially a ranch hand), trying to win the heart of the “young blonde governess” who rules the camp. Somewhere between prime Rodney Atkins and classic George Strait, this song perfectly captures the rodeo sound that likely inspired it, incorporating themes that are true to Mack’s Australian upbringing. The electric guitar, steel, and fiddle play in a way that already feels nostalgic as Geiger describes trying to “play it cool,” in his pursuit to “keep up with the campdraft queen.” As his third single release, this song shows an early, yet significant amount of promising potential in Geiger’s future, and it needs to be on your summer playlist.
8.9
Backwards – Hudson Westbrook Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
This month marks two years since Hudson Westbrook released his first single, “Take It Slow.” In that short span of time, he’s already had more hit singles than most other artists in his generation. With that said, it’s important not to overlook the intricacies of songs like his latest single if you know Hudson for aggressively catchy radio songs. “Backwards” plays on the idea of your entire life being flipped upside down after the end of a relationship. Seemingly, the goal in the writing session for this track was to illustrate the many ways they could cleverly twist that central theme. For example, lines like “Getting low on Mary Jane,” and “I’m lit up with the lights out” show the unlikely opposites that this song revolves around. Although it’s hard to see how “feeling happy on Whitley” could stem from the same flood of confusing, heartbroken emotions, for the most part, the lyrics work coherently together. While Hudson’s words go into specifics on his emotional tragedy, the instruments behind his voice echo the same sentiment with a distinctly mellow arrangement. Off the bat, “Backwards” sounds starkly different in production than his past material. The repetition of the soft-plucked electric guitar in the verses helps build slow tension. At the same time, the rhythm section holds back, providing just enough momentum to support the track’s intentionally mellow message. Next to fan favorites like “House Again” and “Painted You Pretty,” this may not end up as one of Hudson’s most memorable releases, but it further demonstrates that he still hasn’t run out of high-quality songs.
7.8
Songs About Us – Jason Aldean feat. Luke Bryan Written By Max Buondonno
The integral structure of the typical top-ten country music song is pretty standard nowadays: include enough references to cowboy culture and “livin’ it up down south,” involve a love interest at some point, and drink plenty of cold beer and/or whiskey. As lazy and uninspired as these elements can feel, artists are often quick to defend them, claiming they represent their culture and therefore make it a good song. Jason Aldean has taken things a step further, offering a defense for typical Music City rhetoric in the title track of his latest album, “Songs About Us.” A collaboration with longtime friend Luke Bryan, the track covers virtually every song topic you’ll find in the genre, followed up with Aldean admitting he’ll “never turn down songs about us.” There’s a sense of irony in that statement; it evokes an eye roll and a judgmental “uh, yeah, we know” in your mind. Aldean has made it his priority over the years to sound as boring as possible with most of his discography, and it seems that it’s because he chronically can’t turn down the songs he winds up cutting. At the very least, the production and progression of “Songs About Us” feels different than some of his recent output, and both Aldean and Bryan deliver some nice vocals, especially in the verses. Still, it’s hard to deny how shallow and consequently uninspired it is. Like, yeah, bro, we realize all you want to do is sing about cold beer and Friday nights. We know it’s what y’all boys do down south. We’ve heard it a million times, though, and no one would miss those topics if you decided to cut something different. Defend it all you want, it doesn’t mean folks can’t get enough of it.
6.1
B-Y-O-Beach – Brian Kelley feat. Niko Moon Written By Max Buondonno
As Brian Kelley continues his descent further into being strictly known as the Beach Cowboy, his music has begun taking various shapes to fill in each corner of the beach-country subgenre. There’s a little area that consists of pop-sounding tracks that are often laced with hip-hop drums and terrible lyrics, presumably to kick-start your next day by the water. “B-Y-O-Beach,” a collaboration with none other than Niko Moon, is BK’s latest entry into this sub-subgenre, and it’s as atrocious as you imagine. Leaning into the “sunshine state of mind” spirit that’s driven Kelley’s solo career for the last five years, the track begs you to forget about all the craziness of the world and pretend you’re at the beach. “Turnin’ off the damn cable” and “ignorin’ the damn news” are the two key vibes here, backed by an annoying instrumental with pitchy keys and a terrible mix. Both Kelley and Moon sound strangely quiet throughout the entire song, whether due to a lack of energy in the booth or to turning the wrong volume knob during mastering. As a result, you get a Soundcloud-level country-trap bummer that makes the beach sound like the last place you want to go, if this is the vibe you’ll get when you arrive. It’s not too often that Kelley misses a Beach Cowboy track, but if there’s ever a time, it’s now.
2.5
Don’t No More – Braxton Keith Written By Noah Sneath
Braxton Keith has been making country music professionally for more than half a decade and still hasn’t released an album. That will change on May 15th with the release of Real Damn Deal. The latest single from the long-awaited debut from the mustachioed, suspenders-wearing Texan is smooth, listenable, and technically well-executed even if it’s built on harmonic and lyrical choices that we’ve heard many times before from the likes of Alan Jackson, George Strait, Tracy Lawrence, and others. There are no clever turns of phrase or flashy vocal flourishes. The simple melodies over plodding chord changes do little to excite or intrigue. It’s a predictable heartbreak story delivered by an artist with a ceiling much higher than this song allows. But by looking at the tracklist, clean and competent may be the right choice to set up the more upbeat, in-the-pocket honky tonk head-nodder: “Little Bit By Little Bit.” Although “Don’t No More” does not quite meet the exceptionally high standard set by Braxton Keith thus far in 2026, a heater like the one he’s been on is hard to maintain. That being said, on an album that will likely be spilling over with energy, winks and nods, this straight-ahead heartbreak song will fit nicely.
5.5
Drinks Can Drink – Cody Lohden Written By Aishwarya Rajan
In the early 2000’s, country was gaining traction through pop-country tracks, where catchy, upbeat songs were departures enough from bluegrass to seem radio-friendly. Today, much of this interest remains, and some artists, like Cody Lohden, have a sound that sits perfectly in this space. His work in the Cadillac Sessions, with “Two Dozen Roses,” was proof of that. The up-and-coming artists’ latest venture with “Drinks Can Drink” is no different and extremely catchy. This single wedges itself comfortably within a queue of country summer jams, meant to listen to poolside. However, rather than the sun-soaked nostalgia of Kenny Chesney or Alan Jackson, it leans closer to the hook-forward caliber provided by throwback sounds from Florida Georgia Line, Russell Dickerson, or Chase Rice. It’s a feel-good, easy-to-follow track that embodies a strain of qualities inherent to pop-country that radio stations have been missing for a while. Structurally, it follows a predictable blueprint: two verses and an energizing chorus that does the heavy lifting, constituting ⅔ of the track. However, the twangy guitar strumming underlying Lohden’s pleasant southern drawl makes for a well-executed song with a playful melody that’ll tickle your brain all summer long.
7.0
Check out more of our reviews here
