Two strangers fall in love on an airplane. Two lovers jump in a car, put their map away and drive “anywhere.” A woman finds that life’s hardships make her stronger. And a mainstream country singer delivers a derivative, formulaic album. Just another day inside the Nashville music making machine.
It takes literally less than one minute for Sara Evans’ sixth studio album to reveal itself as a cliché monster, with the “Born to Fly” and “Suds in the Bucket” singer launching into a soaring chorus that declares, “All I want is to be loved desperately, like the sun loves the moon/Like the moon adores the shore.” A few seconds later, Evans—who co-wrote the song with Nashville songsmith and frequent collaborator Marcus Hummon—swaps her amateur poet hat for that of dimestore philosopher: “Babe, I believe that every day is a crossroad,” she sings. “We can take the right fork, or take the left, just as long as we move ahead.”
The album’s second track, “A Little Bit Stronger,” provides a glimmer of hope that perhaps the record won’t be the train wreck hinted at by its predecessor. Despite its heavy-handed optimism, the Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey and Hillary Scott composition is a fully formed power ballad with a tight and modestly effective storyline that manages to escape the triteness of its theme and wind up as an earnestly empowering anthem.
But the reprieve is short lived, as “A Little Bit Stronger” is immediately followed by a droning cover of Rod Stewart’s synth-laden 1988 hit “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” where the synth is replaced with some generic steel guitar fills. That ill-advised cut is followed by a song called “Anywhere,” which is Jo Dee Messina’s “Head’s Carolina, Tails California” without the urgency or impetus.
And it’s just downhill from there. In “Alone” (a ballad that opens to a quiet acoustic guitar and the always-foreboding lyrics “Thank you for the roses you sent me/They’re beautiful”), Evans’ character is leaving her forgiveness-seeking boyfriend a voice mail that says, “Please don’t call every time you think of me” and “Sometimes loving me means leaving me alone.” Ouch.
Following an awful Kara DioGuardi song called “Wildflower,” Stronger comes to a close with a not-very-bluegrass “Bluegrass Version” version of “Born To Fly” (effectively making this a nine-song album with a cheap-sounding bonus track).
Stronger is a collection of astonishingly bad songs, but there’s nothing especially noteworthy about that fact in today’s mainstream country music. In fact, most current mainstream country albums are full of astonishingly bad songs. But every now and then, mixed in with all of the trash, it’s possible to find a real gem.
And what’s ultimately the most devastating thing about this album is that, while it contains such a gem, Evans’ amazingly disconnected performance renders it useless.
Co-written by the very talented Nathan Chapman (producer for Taylor Swift and Laura Bell Bundy), “What That Drink Cost Me” is sung by a character who lost her alcoholic husband in a car accident. “I lost a good man to a bad habit/He didn’t love the whiskey, he just had to have it,” she sings. Lyrics like that are the stuff classics are made of.
But Evans’ performance is passionless, clueless and robotic, perhaps the epitome of a singer disconnected from her subject. She hardly sounds like she’s paying attention when she tells the story of waiting for him to come home, and falling to the floor as the police inform her that her lover is dead.
She should be reeling with pain and she cries, “I lost a good man.” But she just sounds sleepy.
If you wanted to give Evans the benefit of the doubt, you could say that her disinterested interpretation attempts to play up the idea she’d already lost him. There’s a line, after all, in the second verse where she sings, “So many nights I’d scream and shout/Even try to hide his keys/I tried everything to keep him from going down that road/Then my heart just let him go.”
But if that’s the case—and I think that’s a very big “if”—it represents a woefully poor interpretation of this character’s emotional turmoil. If you love someone, losing them like that would crush you—even if some part of you expected that you might someday lose them. But not so much of a trace of that pain is communicated through Evans’ delivery.
“What That Drink Cost Me” should be a song that transcends the rest of Stronger‘s disposable fare—every bit of which will be forgotten in no time flat.
Instead, it’s an epic fail from one of country music’s most underachieving singers.
Our rating: ★★☆☆☆
I liked most of the songs on this album, but I have to admit that because I’ve always loved the sound of Sara’s voice, she could probably sell me some songs that other singers couldn’t. Still, I have to agree that her music isn’t quite as good these days as it once was. She’s definitely less consistent now than she was years ago.
The main track on this album I really couldn’t get into was “Anywhere,” which was just a boring song with hardly any hook – definitely an inferior re-tread of “Heads Carolina, Tails California.” As for “Desperately,” I liked the way it sounded, but not so much the lyrics. The attempts at figurative language didn’t really make much sense. I loved songs like “Alone” and “Ticket to Ride,” and I even enjoyed Sara’s performance of “What That Drink Cost Me.”
Though I liked this album in general, I have to say that it doesn’t compare favorably with Sara’s previous work. It almost seems like Sara’s a little unsure of what to do with that voice of hers these days. I hope she can get back on track eventually, and deliver a solid album that we can all enjoy, preferably in less than six years.
Spot on review. This is a pretty terrible album. As a Sara Evans fan, I feel she had six years to give us something good and I’m very disappointed that she didn’t deliver.
Not only are the song selections poor, her voice sounds processed on most of the tracks. I thought I would like some of the songs by their intros, but ended up really disliking them as they got further in. The cover of “Born to Fly” was impressively uninspiring, which is a shame since I typically gravitate to stripped down productions. I like “What that Drink Cost Me”, but I agree that her performance sounded disconnected (as was the case with several of the songs, including the title track). Something kept me from loving the song as much as I felt I could have.
You’d think that after six years, she could have given us a longer album too, but I suppose it turns out that it’s good that she didn’t if it was going to be more of this disaster.
I usually give an artist two bad albums before I call myself a former fan, but I don’t know what my rule should be if the badness comes after six years.I’m probably being harshly than I’d normally be with an artist that I actually like, but I really hope she gets the message that she must do better next time. I hope her fans won’t give a free pass in the end; otherwise, this is what she’ll keep delivering in return and I know she is capable of much better.
It’s funny that you mention that this is typical of mainstream country music these days, because I was rather depressed about mainstream country the night I heard this album. It was like the last straw.
Ben: Would you be willing to share some insight about why you liked most of the songs here? What are some of the qualities that you think make them attractive or enjoyable? I’m curious, because you and I are not hearing the same record. To my ears, these are poorly written songs that scrape the thematic barrel.
Leeann. Thanks! I didn’t want to judge this album based on what I thought she should have done, given X amount of time. But you make a good point. I think the reality is probably that she wasn’t working on this for six years, but that she took a large part of that time off and produced this in a normal time frame. Still, you would think that she’d have collected some strong material over the years.
As for mainstream country, I’m being hearing such bad songs lately…everywhere. Glad that I’m not alone in wondering what’s been going on.
Good point about the six years.
I won’t try to formulate a rebuttal of your review, but I’ll try to elaborate on my thoughts a bit. In all honesty, you are a much more insightful critic than I am, and I have no problem admitting that you likely analyzed this album on a deeper level than I did. There were some that I knew might be polarizing, or that other critics might not like as much.
One such track is “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” though I’m not sure I clearly understand why you considered it to be a misstep. I thought Sara delivered a fine performance that had some varying shades to it, in that it’s soft and restrained in the beginning, but rises to an impassioned plea in the chorus. I considered the arrangement to be an appropriate and respectable modern country reinterpretation. I didn’t think the steel guitar seemed slapped-on or affected, though the 80s pop power ballad flavor is still discernible.
I also enjoyed the song “Life Without Losing,” considering it to be a solid composition, and I thought Sara effectively channeled the emotions behind it. I’m sure “Ticket to Ride” might not have floated everyone’s boat, but I loved it because I thought it showed a great deal of spunk and personality, even if the storyline was predictable.
“Desperately” and “Anywhere” were the two main tracks that struck me as being lyrically weak. I enjoyed the melody and arrangement on the former, but the latter didn’t really do anything for me.
“Alone” and “What That Drink Cost Me” were my two favorites. As for the latter, I did believe that I heard a level of emotion in Sara’s delivery, but I don’t think it’s on the same level as some of her past performances. That was my impression, but I probably don’t have as good an ear for that characteristic as others do.
I never considered this to be a perfect album – I recognized from the first listen that it had weak moments. I just considered the overall balance to be tilted more in the positive direction. Again, these were just my personal opinions that I formed on hearing the album for myself, prior to having read any reviews. Just so you know, I do hold your critiques in the highest regard, and occasional differences of opinion don’t change that. I’m not trying to sway your opinion either, but I hope this answers your question.
It pains me that this is what we’re left with after about six years, which Evans’ personal experiences could have produced a potentially compelling and affecting record.
If there’s a silver lining in all of this, it’s that the album’s strongest moment in my view, her current single, has been a breakout digital success story, surpassing Gold status. I’d rather see a convincing anthem soar on its own merit than a corresponding record that lacks its depth, urgency and the potency of Evans’ previous eras as a vocalist.
You’re right. This album is not the best work by the singer whom I consider to have the best voice in country music today. I love the video of “A Little Bit Stronger” and the song fits well into the theme of the movie “Country Strong.” But the album as a whole is weak. I much prefer Sara’s original version of “Born to Fly” to the “bluegrass version” even though I love bluegrass. As a recovering alcoholic, I can identify with a wife’s song about losing her husband. One thing I have noticed about Sara’s wonderful voice is that it has a quality which reminds me of my all-time favorite singer Karen Carpenter and I know that Sara is capable of much more than she gives on this album. (I think I realized the comparison between Sara and Karen when I heard the title of “Ticket to Ride,” a different and weaker song than the Beatles’ hit which the Carpenters covered so beautifully.)
I am not a country fan at all. I actually heard Sara for the first time tonight on the Jay Leno show. I looked her up on Google due to the fact that she was one of the the worst performers/singers I have ever seen. I thought she must be a nobody or an up-and-comer as she had a most unpleasant quality to her voice. I’m very surprised to find that she is famous with quite a few fans. Amazing. She was horrible and seemed very uninterested in being on the Tonight Show or with putting on a good performance. Terrible pitch and just a really, really bad voice. Silly lyrics too. She sang “A Little Bit Stronger” and I hated every moment of it. It seemed forced, uncomfortable and incited absolutely no emotion in me whatsoever other than,obviously, contempt. Bad, just bad.
I’m not a country music fan – I love music regardless of what box someone says a certain artist or song is supposed to be in. And I did appreciate some of Sara’s earlier work. But hearing Evans’ version “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” sent me looking for a review to confirm what I was hearing. I mean that steel guitar and the way she seems to hold onto notes like she too lazy to move to the next bar was just killing me. I mean it’s living hell (sorry…)
So, I greatly appreciate this honest and detailed review – well done. I certainly defer to your expertise but my rating is one star.
I have just listened to this and have to agree with some of the comments in this not being Saras best work where the original had me musical clarity than the reworked versions.
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