Does Your GF Know We Kissed – Elizabeth Nichols Written By Aishwarya Rajan
If vocal coaches taught singing with your nose plugged, half of us would’ve been trained since day one of swim school: nostrils pinched, holding our breath. Elizabeth Nichols’s latest single plays like dystopian fiction imagining such a dismal reality. This song makes a reasonable case for state-sponsored sanctions on art. Once your ears have recovered from its abhorrent, nasal texture, you’re left parsing a PG-13 version of a 2012 Disney Channel tween anthem. When you think it can’t get worse, she belts “and think of me” through what sounds like a wad of phlegm. Even setting the delivery aside, the song itself isn’t good. Writing a track about knowingly being party to a cheating scandal is about as shameless as it gets. And in an era where breaking through means real expression has to compete with content made purely for clicks, songs like this, which make up most of Nichols’s catalog, feel cheap and self-serving. There’s a line between playful and a stupendous waste of time, especially in an oversaturated market. So instead of wondering whether his girlfriend can taste Nichols on her lips, maybe she should work on using them for better vocals. Or better yet, kiss that boy goodbye just like this style of storytelling.
1.6
Lonely USA – Meels Written By Adam Delahoussaye
Some of the artists keeping the traditional sound alive treat the source material like a storybook, their translation of the inspiration sitting somewhere between a simple southern fantasy and an uncanny caricature of radio hits that never made it out of the holler. Meels, who broke onto the scene with music videos that played out like a redneck version of a Jim Henson after-school special, seems to be in on the bit. She plays into it while still keeping a bit of self-seriousness intact on “Lonely USA,” a title that could probably be found on the border of the world she’s created. It feels like it could radiate out of an acid-washed tube TV, and somewhere the singer is frantically flapping her wings toward. The stride of the fiddle only reinforces the urgency, with Meels practically cawing as she imagines a place where she can finally spread her wings “underneath the pale moonlight,” all on the whim of a rumor she heard in the whistle of a steam engine. If the perky plucks and stomps sketch out the world that’s being built here, then the way our narrator describes it shades in the details with an ornate attention to detail. The allure is in the imagery, a warm glow full of fantastical promises that pulls you in, making a simple leaving-home ditty feel like an out-of-body experience.
7.9
Made You Look – Hudson Westbrook Written By Adam Delahoussaye
It’s reassuring that “Made You Look” is the title track for Hudson Westbrook’s sophomore LP, a signal of the debonair sensibilities and newfound confidence. It’s a fitting attitude for a singer entering stardom on the back of some hot and heavy waltz numbers. But his newest is more of a flirty two-step, one where Westbrook pulls out all the stops to get a prized prospect over to his side of the border. Filled with batting those big eyes and a fiddle that seems to harmonize with the singer’s sweet-talking, “Made You Look” is a perfect candidate for the sweltering close-out to summer as Westbrook looks to get tied down before it’s time to bundle up again. Even more exciting, Westbrook seems to be getting a handle on how to marry his red dirt roots to a more modern approach to romance, a mode he’s stumbled through on projects in the past. Whether it’s the song’s tagline practically given with a wink and a smile or showing his cards completely when he reveals he’s using “the oldest trick in the book” to grab her attention. The new golden boy out of Texas is continuing to make a big impact with his soft-spoken swagger and the help of a little liquid courage.
7.1
Already Gone – Orville Peck Written By Adam Delahoussaye
Between the blink-and-you’d-miss-it Glen Campbell interpolation and a raucous round of yodels in the chorus, Orville Peck’s newest single from his upcoming Mule pulls out all the outlaw angle party tricks. Paired again with producer Jay Joyce, the two capitalize on the qualities that made Bronco a standout hit, pulling the performer’s eccentricities to center stage only to gesture to some far more tragic characters lingering behind the curtain. “Already Gone” is one of many expected anecdotes from Peck’s journey through addiction and eventual recovery, with the masked performer swinging from chandeliers and bellowing his way through late nights that turn into early mornings. It sounds as removed as possible from rock bottom, the triumphant triple-time drum pushing Peck and the rest of the band into high gear while reality slowly starts to slip from their grasp. In the second verse, we get the harrowing line of “He’s everybody’s favorite, but it takes a toll, leave him alone, he’s gonna end it all,” before the singer again digs his heels into the side of a horse, aware but still in denial of the fact he’s a few more long nights away from being bucked off. “Already Gone” is a wild, visceral ride, western in tone yet universally relatable as a translation of personal testimony.
9.0
dance around it – Ashley Cooke Written By Aishwarya Rajan
For female acts in the pop-country lane, storytelling has stayed subliminal while melodies land about as charismatic as a cynical 100-year-old grandfather (think Gabby Barrett, Lauren Alaina, or Alana Springsteen). That gap has left room for a female artist who fits in a sound category similar to counterparts like Morgan Wallen or Luke Combs. Flitting across a mesmerizing dance between rock, country, and pop, Ashley Cooke’s lead single “dance around it,” from her new self-titled album, might be the track that claims that space. Flickers of pure rock-and-roll guitar and after-dark synth-pop production emboss country twang. It’s a mingling of discrete sounds: a heartbeat-like thump, echoes, clicks, and strums, pulling listeners into an atmosphere that’s oceanic and moody, yet, contradictorily, pleasant. The track is a testament to avoidance: dodging the inevitable by dancing around a conversation, or a moment. Follow that idea, and it’s easy to picture Mr. California and Casamigos showing up out of the blue, with the two of them falling into the same two-step they always do. At times it’s hard to ignore Cooke’s fragmented, questionable images, like “Make shadows on the ceiling like ‘it’s over.'” Still, those lines are balanced by ingeniously simple ones like “If we’re goin’ ’round in circles, let’s just make it count,” which perfectly encapsulates the concept she’s narrating. “dance around it” is a rhythm-and-melody person’s best friend, and a strong step toward carving out space for women who lean pop in country music.
7.6
Palms & Pines – Brian Kelley feat. ERNEST Written By Max Buondonno
Brian Kelley’s current wave he’s surfing needs to crash on the shoreline soon. While the Beach Cowboy can typically excel at making beach country anthems, his latest obsession with blending island-style production with cheap FruityLoops stock beats needs to be put to an end, because it’s not meshing well. “Palms & Pines,” the opening track on his latest project, Coral Beats, tries to capture the same laid-back energy that much of his music has. Instead, he focuses too heavily on coming up with something “clever” for the lyrics that captures his country and beach sides, to the point of not caring about how the song sounds. Written by Kelley, ERNEST, and Alysa Vanderheym, the track leans on cliches and talking points to stumble through until the bridge, which sees Kelley attempt an atrocious falsetto that will probably make you pull out at least one of your AirPods. The second verse sees ERNEST lazily mutter more beach words, sounding utterly uninterested and tone-deaf in his vocal delivery. The track begs you to be relaxed and “chill right now,” but its inability to escape its cheap production and lazy writing sends you to a beach full of green heads and 120-degree sand rather than the tropical paradise Kelley strives for. It leaves much to be desired from someone who was once at the top of the beach country genre; the downfall from the first Sunshine State of Mind really needs to be studied.
3.9
Way To Go – Zach John King feat. Brooks & Dunn Written By Max Buondonno
The significance of getting someone as legendary as Brooks & Dunn not just to co-sign your career but also to record a song with you is obviously very cool. A young artist like Zach John King pulling off this duet, called “Way To Go,” must be a dream come true for him by every definition. But while King sees an opportunity to create a standout moment for his career, it would’ve been nice to see him pay closer attention to the song he’s cutting with the guys who made “Neon Moon.” It’s not that “Way To Go” is a bad song on the surface, and it’s certainly not like Brooks & Dunn haven’t been a part of some underwhelming songs in the past. But the track’s inherent lyrical clunkiness in its description of a girl driving you crazy results in a song that feels like a collection of words rather than an articulate tale. It skirts around the larger point until you can’t quite tell what’s being said, while the chorus doesn’t leave a lasting impression to make you want to hit play again. None of that would matter if the song were at least catchy, which only rings true, somehow, in the acoustic guitar strums in the background. Dunn and King sound decent together, and there’s enough energy to make the song sound like a solid contender for a live set. But ultimately, there’s nothing attention-grabbing or otherwise significant about this song. It’s quintessentially bragging rights for Zach John King. You have to respect it, but that doesn’t excuse its underwhelming nature.
6.4
Uno Dos Equis – Cole Phillips Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
Every once in a while, a few scrolls through TikTok can lead you to your new favorite country song. The many listeners who discovered Whiskey Myers’ “Broken Window Serenade,” Mack Geiger’s “String By,” and Randy Rogers Band’s “In My Arms Instead” through social media may likely enjoy Cole Phillips’s new single just as much. A saddened yet somewhat silly drinking anthem, “Uno Dos Equis” is full of charm and personality that makes it easy to imagine those same listeners going wild for it. Letting go of a girl who left him and took everything he had, Cole sits at the bar, orders a beer, and settles into life without her. Traditionally inspired, the song fits into the same classic style and category as acts like Zach Top, Cole Goodwin, and Silverada, covered in steel guitar that accents Phillips’s vocals with excellence. There’s a drunken, unbuttoned roughness to every aspect of the arrangement, seemingly intentional and perfectly reflective of the end-of-his-rope, “so long” attitude at the center of the story. Revealing some of his unapologetic charisma, Cole Phillips makes a strong case for himself as a rising artist worth watching.
8.1
Closing Time – Little Big Town feat. Kelsea Ballerini Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
In their most recent song together, Little Big Town and Kelsea Ballerini express their yearnings for a late-night romance. “Closing Time” isn’t trying to be clever about the feelings it conveys. Keeping pressure and commitment out of the conversation, the track begs for a fling with no further expectations. Checking the credits, you’ll find a stacked list of writers, including the singers themselves, along with Jessie Jo Dillon, Hillary Lindsey, and Alysa Vanderheym. With a group like that behind the pen, the bar should be set high, and “Closing Time” certainly delivers. The song never overcomplicates its narrator’s intentions, making its carefree “just take me home already” sentiment feel entirely believable. Lyrics like “Don’t you make me go and waste a dress” capture the attitude at the heart of the song, as the longing vocals match that energy. The slow, drawn-out sound of the instruments in the 6/8 time signature supports the song’s thesis, though it does feel a bit familiar. The melody and vocal meter in the first measure of the chorus, when they sing “it’s closing time,” follow a strikingly similar structure to other songs that touch on the same subject. To name a couple, Hudson Westbrook’s “Sober” and Cody Johnson’s “Nothin’ On You” sound almost identical in many ways, and it’s almost like they’re all borrowing little pieces of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.” Nonetheless, this is an unoffensive, high-quality release from the group, even if it does only feature Kelsea as a background vocalist.
6.6
Kicked Out of Bars – Josh Ross Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
People love to praise the “big umbrella” of country music and how expansive it’s become, encompassing a wide range of styles and subgenres. Still, many of those same people are quick to reject anything that resembles the bro-country era, often dismissing even the most sincere and substantive work from that period. Josh Ross frequently brushes up against the familiar sounds of 2010s country radio: big drums, heavily processed vocals, and a wall of sound. That doesn’t mean his songs aren’t worthy of appreciation, though. His latest, “Kicked Out Of Bars,” is undeniably bro-ey, but also undeniably a jam. The song centers around a heartbreak-fueled drinking problem that gets Ross into trouble. Reading that description alone may not compel you to listen, and truthfully, that probably isn’t the point. It feels more like the product of a “let’s make a hit” mindset, built around creating a catchy, high-energy singalong, and in that regard, it succeeds. Imagine the song Jordan Davis might write after attending his first Koe Wetzel concert, and that’s pretty much what Josh Ross has made here. Without the cringy beer puns, annoying clap tracks, or overly sleazy “c’mere girl” lyrics, it’s surprisingly easy to get behind. Had this song arrived during the height of the bro-country era, it might have actually felt like a breath of fresh air among some of the genre’s worst offenders.
6.4
Laundry – Emily Ann Roberts Written By Noah Sneath
Building a life with someone means making sacrifices and doing things for them without expecting anything in return. And for better or worse, sacrifice makes you vulnerable to unending love and hurt that could create lifelong scars. The story of “Laundry” is that of the support system, the person who makes her partner’s dreams possible, and does the laundry out of love and devotion. Meanwhile, he’s out chasing his dreams, indulging in dinners, flights, and another lover’s attention. It’s devastating. Emily Ann Roberts has built an impressive catalog of great songs about domesticity and, herself a married woman, is an excellent human vessel for these songs. Her flagship entries, fan-favorites like “Jack & Jill Daniel’s” and “Whipped,” are typically more fun and folly than deceit and devastation. On “Come Home to You,” Emily Ann Roberts explores collapsed intimacy. That is partially why “Laundry” works so well and may hit particularly hard for well-listened fans. It has a more defined shape and bolder color next to its upbeat, celebratory counterparts. Sonically, “Laundry” is about as well-executed as it gets in the genre. The beautiful melody cascades over a simple chord progression that gently carries the betrayed lover from harmonic tension to resolution. This track’s zenith is around the three-minute mark, which shows off our singer’s vocal talent and delivers a final emotional blow with the final “and doing me dirty” resolving with a deceptive cadence. “Laundry” is an outstanding contribution to Emily Ann Roberts’ catalog and further evidence of her talent as a country singer.
9.0
Shoes – Gavin Adcock Written By Noah Sneath
“Shoes” has just three elements: acoustic guitar, steel guitar, and vocals. It is incredibly simple. In fact, if we are to believe the song’s narrator, then “Shoes” is literally “three chords and the truth.” Truth is by definition universal, and the epiphany of this song is certainly not a novel one. Man gets what he wants; man romanticizes what he doesn’t have. However, “Shoes” is the most compelling single released so far from his upcoming album The Day I Hang It Up. What sets it apart from the oft-trite milieu is the honesty of Mr. Adcock’s oblong delivery. His voice, his melody, his plainspoken phrasing make a familiar conclusion feel like a path no one’s walked before. And isn’t that really what life is? Coming to the same handful of conclusions and transformations that countless people have experienced before, dressed in something seemingly unique to yourself. Beauty is not always found in novelty. It is far easier for art to transcend when it lets the listener witness the universality of human experience expressed in a novel way. “Shoes” is exactly that. It’s a familiar story on a familiar backdrop with an endlessly intriguing leading character. We’ve heard a guitar playing these chords this way, and we’ve heard songs about seeing the world through another’s eyes. It’s the tumbling melodies, the unpredictable phrasing, the conversational tone and the absence of heavy vocal filtering that form the ridges of a unique Gavin Adcock musical fingerprint and make “Shoes” work. Unfortunately for the haters, he has done it again.
7.8
I Wanna Be Bad – Kaitlin Butts Written By Noah Sneath
Sometimes you just need to scream. Whether you’re stressed, burnt out, mad, all three, or something else, venting is a viable option for releasing tension. “I Wanna Be Bad” is a two and a half minute scream from Kaitlin Butts, an artist who has been walking a little bit on the wild side in 2026. Recent releases include a feature on “Hypothetically Speaking” (a Willow Avalon track about covering up mariticide), a single titled “Never Really Mine” (a surprisingly beautiful song about infidelity that begins with the lyrics “big lips, big tits”), and a feature on a re-recording of The Band Perry’s “You Lie.” Quite honestly, it works. Kaitlin Butts has a spider-silky voice that shines with innocence but holds like steel, making her incredibly convincing in this outlaw femme fatale role. Much like Tammy Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” this latest release drives with persistence and rebels with humor and clever turns of phrase (e.g., “walk-all-over-ruggable”). The recording is clear, the instrumental work is tight, and the song is smart about breaking up its own repetition when on the verge of droning. Every “maniac mad” provides a jolt, and a fiddle-and-steel interlude right before the final chorus works as a gritty palate cleanser before the last go-round. “I Wanna Be Bad” isn’t much more than a quick venting session, but it serves its purpose well.
7.6
Mess – Jordan Davis Written By Aishwarya Rajan
It’s really easy to think of the radio-friendly tracks like “Buy Dirt” or “Bar None” when Jordan Davis’s is uttered. As buzzworthy as those tracks are to his discography, they weren’t nearly as interesting as the pristine Home State. During an era of country music overwhelmed by low-effort lyricism and pop genre-hopping tracks, it was characterized by alluring soul grooves, something that had been missing in the genre for a while. Offering listeners a time capsule to that era, “Mess” is a small taste of the adventurous bravado that Davis came out swinging with back in 2018. While retaining the same steamy narration and vocal richness from his previous tracks, like “Sundowners” or “Selfish,” the happily married family man takes on a new character and truly embodies a storyteller: pleading for his “never again” to wreak havoc on him all over again, even if he’ll regret it. The stickiness of the melody is held captive by swanky instrumentation that flies in simultaneously with his soaring harmonies, all accentuated with deep desperation. While it’s a playground of irresistible production, the storytelling falls short with a concept that is overused and vocals that could capitalize on enunciation and power similar to the likes of Teddy Swims or Kameron Marlowe. That said, this step back into the ground that founded the Davis many know and love is certainly worth acknowledging.
7.4
