djHayStack
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Post by djHayStack on Jan 25, 2016 10:59:32 GMT -5
R&B and Pop won't play these songs. The artists describe themselves as country. They're in the genre. Therefore, for,radio purposes, they're country artists. It's as simple as that. But it doesn't make any sense because these R&B and Pop Country artists probably don't even know what Country should be. They chose a extremely weird sound, it seems, at least that's what I think, to try and ruin Country music for everyone who doesn't not like their sound. Anyway Thomas Rhett is a hit or miss artist for me. There's either a good song or it's just plain bad, that's my opinion. Thomas Rhett knows what country is I assure you. Do you know his lineage? He grew up listening to amazing country, but also 90's pop-rock and R&B, which is an obvious influence. Listen to every track on "Tangled Up" and try to do so with unbiased ears. There's lots of "not real country" on there, sure... but there's some damn solid country music there as well. People need to get used to genre lines blurring, and not just in country radio. Genres are quickly becoming irrelevant... lifestyles are what matter in music to listeners. There's nothing country about the music of Sam Hunt's "Break Up In a Small Town," but lyrically, it's as country as it gets.
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Post by 43dudleyvillas on Jan 25, 2016 12:06:15 GMT -5
But it doesn't make any sense because these R&B and Pop Country artists probably don't even know what Country should be. They chose a extremely weird sound, it seems, at least that's what I think, to try and ruin Country music for everyone who doesn't not like their sound. Anyway Thomas Rhett is a hit or miss artist for me. There's either a good song or it's just plain bad, that's my opinion. People need to get used to genre lines blurring, and not just in country radio. Genres are quickly becoming irrelevant... lifestyles are what matter in music to listeners. While I think that you've painted an accurate picture here, your comments also strike me as why the country radio format as such is becoming less relevant. Obviously, it retains the advantage of a built-in audience for now (for as long as cars are equipped with AM/FM radio, anyway). But it was one thing when terrestrial radio offered the advantage both of the sense of local community and, in the case of country radio, the sense of community built on the genre's tradition and history -- from the artists' side in terms of honoring that tradition/history and building on it and from the listeners' side in terms of feeling like they were a part of it. Both aspects are severely diminished in the current age. And ultimately, it's hard for me to see how terrestrial radio will be able to compete with streaming services that allow listeners to customize playlists based on lifestyle and much more. There's nothing country about the music of Sam Hunt's "Break Up In a Small Town," but lyrically, it's as country as it gets. This I disagree with. As I've noted before, if "storytelling" is what defines country music as such, then R. Kelly's "Trapped in a Closet" is the most epic country song of all time. References to small town locales are not enough to define a country song as such, unless you're going to tell me that Lorde's "Royals" is actually a country song. And the "get down" reference in "Break Up in a Small Town" is very specifically tied a different cultural aesthetic. While it's true that country music has always borrowed liberally from other genres, there has always been, at its core, a sensibility defined by some combination of sound & lyrical point of view that distinguished it from other genres, much like R&B music and rock music. I don't see any way that "Break Up in a Small Town" reflects that core, and this is speaking as someone who has heard that sensibility in boundary-shattering songs like "Blown Away" and "Creepin'." Regarding Thomas Rhett, I agree with zjames that Tangled Up is an album full of hit music fit for the current era, including the new single. But I find it impossible to take him seriously at all, because I don't feel like that hit music is a showcase of anything distinctive about Thomas Rhett as an artist, beyond his very keen ear for hit music. I believe that Thomas is steeped in contemporary versions of country, pop and R&B music, just as I believe Sam Hunt is. But unlike Sam Hunt, Thomas doesn't read to me as someone who has developed a strong sense of who he is stylistically from those influences. As much as Thomas has jumped around sounds, he's more of a cipher than a chameleon. For me, this is largely because Thomas' voice does seem to take a lot more naturally to country stylizations than Sam's but Thomas' current music pushes him away from them to the point that he doesn't sound natural or convincing (for example, on "Crash & Burn," you can practically hear him aping Chris Stapleton's phrasing from the demo). And with respect to "T-Shirt," I suppose it was an obvious single choice in the current radio era, but one way it really falters in appeal relative to "Crash & Burn" and "Die a Happy Man" is in its reliance on rhythm over melody for catchiness. I think that "Crash & Burn" and "Thinking Out Loud" "Die a Happy Man" sold themselves much more naturally, whereas "T-Shirt" is more reliant on on-point cadence and personality, both of which Thomas Rhett lacks as recording artist.
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rsmatto
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Post by rsmatto on Jan 25, 2016 14:55:24 GMT -5
R&B and Pop won't play these songs. The artists describe themselves as country. They're in the genre. Therefore, for,radio purposes, they're country artists. It's as simple as that. But it doesn't make any sense because these R&B and Pop Country artists probably don't even know what Country should be. They chose a extremely weird sound, it seems, at least that's what I think, to try and ruin Country music for everyone who doesn't not like their sound. Anyway Thomas Rhett is a hit or miss artist for me. There's either a good song or it's just plain bad, that's my opinion. Thomas Rhett, Brett Eldredge and the artists making these kinds of songs know and embrace country's history. They're just trying to be different enough to stand out. It seems to be working.
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hosssulpizio
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Post by hosssulpizio on Jan 25, 2016 16:33:32 GMT -5
Ok but not everything lasts forever. Soon they may eventually see their career start to end. Radio is not gonna play the stuff they record forever and honestly I think a lot of their songs will be forgettable ten years from now. Also I'm not sure why Brett said that he was gonna keep his music country and then turn his back on what he said and start copying what Thomas Rhett is doing. He probably just did that for more money.
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Post by Tylerjamesnerd on Jan 25, 2016 22:29:39 GMT -5
Ok but not everything lasts forever. Soon they may eventually see their career start to end. Radio is not gonna play the stuff they record forever and honestly I think a lot of their songs will be forgettable ten years from now. Also I'm not sure why Brett said that he was gonna keep his music country and then turn his back on what he said and start copying what Thomas Rhett is doing. He probably just did that for more money. That's the goal for most artists, to make money and to make a name for themselves. They have to stray away from the traditional side and make music for their TARGET audience.
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hosssulpizio
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Post by hosssulpizio on Jan 26, 2016 1:06:07 GMT -5
Ok but not everything lasts forever. Soon they may eventually see their career start to end. Radio is not gonna play the stuff they record forever and honestly I think a lot of their songs will be forgettable ten years from now. Also I'm not sure why Brett said that he was gonna keep his music country and then turn his back on what he said and start copying what Thomas Rhett is doing. He probably just did that for more money. That's the goal for most artists, to make money and to make a name for themselves. They have to stray away from the traditional side and make music for their TARGET audience. Ok but I think not every artist should be that way. Traditional Country artists make a ton of money also.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2016 1:16:13 GMT -5
Ok but not everything lasts forever. Soon they may eventually see their career start to end. I'm not really sure what your point is with this. EVERY artist sees their radio career eventually fade away. It happened to George Strait, it's happened to Reba and Alan Jackson, Garth and Toby, etc. Just because you or I don't like something doesn't mean it's not popular. And quality is subjective, too. I don't think "T-Shirt" is a good song -- I think it's pretty boring and I'm not a fan of the weird production -- but what I think is completely irrelevant as to how the song will do on the charts. Now, if hundreds and thousands of people didn't like a song and quit listening to radio, that would probably lead radio to quit playing the song. But that doesn't ever really happen. A song has to be almost unanimously disliked for radio to just drop it like that.
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bboat11
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 26, 2016 1:33:00 GMT -5
Ok but not everything lasts forever. Soon they may eventually see their career start to end. I'm not really sure what your point is with this. EVERY artist sees their radio career eventually fade away. It happened to George Strait, it's happened to Reba and Alan Jackson, Garth and Toby, etc. But there is definitely the potential for an artist to bring about a premature end to their career if they fail to record music that is memorable in the long-term over the course of their career. Or if they never find stylistic consistency. That is what I assumed the initial suggestion to be, although it definitely could have been stated much more clearly.
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hosssulpizio
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Post by hosssulpizio on Jan 26, 2016 2:01:16 GMT -5
I'm not really sure what your point is with this. EVERY artist sees their radio career eventually fade away. It happened to George Strait, it's happened to Reba and Alan Jackson, Garth and Toby, etc. But there is definitely the potential for an artist to bring about a premature end to their career if they fail to record music that is memorable in the long-term over the course of their career. Or if they never find stylistic consistency. That is what I assumed the initial suggestion to be, although it definitely could have been stated much more clearly. Now that's what I meant.
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dm2081
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Post by dm2081 on Jan 26, 2016 9:35:08 GMT -5
I understand some people aren't fans of Rhett on here, but is somebody really going to tell me that his past 5 hits won't be memorable at all? They all have gone at least Gold (all of them might be platinum actually, or at least will get there in near future), he continues to get solid recurrent play, his sales and streams are trending upwards, and he is getting way more recognition by media giants such as Billboard. He clearly has resonated well with some crowd, and I think it's a safe bet we will be hearing "Die A Happy Man" for years to come. He will need to keep making consistent hits obviously if he wants to remain a huge current star, but at the very least he has a pretty successful 3 years to hang his hat on.
Trends will certainly change, but that won't make the style of hits that happened during that era irrelevant. Hence why there is a Sirius radio station dedicated to 90s Prime Country. This is why older classic acts like AC/DC, Madonna and The Police can all keep touring and selling out arenas, despite not having any current hits or failing to meet the current trends of today's music.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on Feb 1, 2016 21:47:27 GMT -5
February 16th is the official impact date for "T-Shirt."
Boy, the February new single calendar is jam-packed now.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 0:44:09 GMT -5
February 16th is the official impact date for "T-Shirt." Boy, the February new single calendar is jam-packed now. I guess I'm not surprised it's the 16th, but I was thinking the 29th would be a better idea (label-mate Tara Thompson is going for adds on the 22nd so I knew it wouldn't be that date). I realize the 29th is still 4 weeks out but at this point, with how red hot Thomas is, an adds date doesn't matter all that much. I bet this one would have easily been in the top 30 by the end of the month, even if the adds date wasn't until the 29th. The main reason you'd hold an adds date back is to let a previous hit (in this case, "Die A Happy Man") decline a bit more in airplay. But of course they're gonna have "T-Shirt" out there during/right after CRS, and now that I think about it, Thomas probably won't have to worry about DAHM still getting a lot of airplay. He's big enough now that he can have 2 songs with well over 20 million audience impressions at the same time. All artists dream of not having to endure the slow climb up the charts (many artists only release 1 single a year) and Thomas is definitely at that point -- his singles should all climb rather quickly from here on out. I agree that February is jam-packed, which doesn't bode well for some of the really new artists as well as the struggling veteran artists. I'm not surprised at the flood of releases though -- normally they'd all come in January, but with CRS being pushed to the beginning of February, most labels decided to wait a few weeks after the New Year to start launching their new singles. Maybe 1-3 pretty much brand new artists will get lucky coming out of CRS, but for the most part I expect momentum to stay with artists like Thomas Rhett, Cam, and others who have scored at least one top 10 hit in the past year.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on Feb 2, 2016 10:17:22 GMT -5
"T-Shirt" was officially sent to radio this morning through Play MPe.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 10:28:01 GMT -5
Wow what lazy coverart. Thomas looks so bored.
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djHayStack
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Post by djHayStack on Feb 2, 2016 10:54:16 GMT -5
The release is stripped back a bit in production for country radio. I think they hit the sweet spot. It's also listed as "For Immediate Airplay" as opposed to having an impact date.
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dm2081
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Post by dm2081 on Feb 2, 2016 10:59:48 GMT -5
Wow what lazy coverart. Thomas looks so bored. What are you expecting, The Mona Lisa?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 11:03:00 GMT -5
Wow what lazy coverart. Thomas looks so bored. What are you expecting, The Mona Lisa? Not an image I've already seen of Thomas Rhett. They could have spiced it up a little.
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dm2081
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Post by dm2081 on Feb 2, 2016 11:06:02 GMT -5
What are you expecting, The Mona Lisa? Not an image I've already seen of Thomas Rhett. They could have spiced it up a little. From the labels point of view, what would be the point? It's not a lead single and nobody in the general public will ever see the cover, only the album art. There's pretty much zero incentive to pump some more money into single artwork for a song they know is going to be huge anyways.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 11:07:34 GMT -5
Not an image I've already seen of Thomas Rhett. They could have spiced it up a little. From the labels point if view, what would be the point? It's not a lead single and nobody in the general public will ever see the cover, only the album art. There's pretty much zero incentive to pump some more money into single artwork for a song they know is going to be huge anyways. I know but it's like given the title of the song they could've done something interesting instead of an image like that.
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dm2081
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Post by dm2081 on Feb 2, 2016 11:10:03 GMT -5
From the labels point if view, what would be the point? It's not a lead single and nobody in the general public will ever see the cover, only the album art. There's pretty much zero incentive to pump some more money into single artwork for a song they know is going to be huge anyways. I know but it's like given the title of the song they could've done something interesting instead of an image like that. I mean the song is called "T-Shirt" and he's wearing a t-shirt in it...
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robenglund
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Post by robenglund on Feb 2, 2016 11:31:14 GMT -5
djHayStack Do you have a link to the audio? It's not on AllAccess. Really curious to hear it.
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djHayStack
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Post by djHayStack on Feb 2, 2016 14:56:07 GMT -5
djHayStack Do you have a link to the audio? It's not on AllAccess. Really curious to hear it. I'm not comfortable posting it myself. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the interwebs by now.
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austin
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Post by austin on Feb 2, 2016 22:22:54 GMT -5
Perfect single and definite #1. I hope Learned it from the Radio is next and then they can do anything they want because he will be a superstar.
I hope he wins Album of the Year. It was my favorite album of any genre released in 2015.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 22:23:17 GMT -5
djHayStack Do you have a link to the audio? It's not on AllAccess. Really curious to hear it. I'm not comfortable posting it myself. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the interwebs by now. Do you think it's something a lot of stations will play? Versus the country version of "Beautiful Drug" which I have literally heard zero times lol
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robenglund
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Post by robenglund on Feb 3, 2016 12:12:52 GMT -5
I'm not comfortable posting it myself. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the interwebs by now. Do you think it's something a lot of stations will play? Versus the country version of "Beautiful Drug" which I have literally heard zero times lol The only version of Beautiful Drug my 2 local stations play is the "country version". In my opinion it's the "country-er version". While it's still not 100% country in my opinion, it's much more pleasant hearing that on country radio. Getting back to T-Shirt and Thomas Rhett, It's up on AllAccess now. I hear no difference between the radio version and the album version. Only difference I noticed is radio version is 3:28 and and album version is 3:44. If there is a difference socially it's so subtle to the point where you can't even notice it. Beautiful Drug country version vs. album version there is a clear difference. So I'm pretty sure the only difference between T-Shirt radio and album version is the time haha.
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Future Captain
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Post by Future Captain on Feb 3, 2016 21:54:38 GMT -5
I think this won't be too out of place in Nick Jonas' album. Nice tune, I guess.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on Feb 6, 2016 20:22:05 GMT -5
This song is so...boring. It just isn't interesting to me at all, other than being distracted by the production. It's not catchy. It's not clever. I get why his pop leaning music is popular with many music buying consumers but his songs are just not good, imo.
Also, Keith Urban's "You Look Good In My Shirt" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "T-Shirt".
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 23:40:50 GMT -5
Thomas Rhett's appeal is one of the things that baffles me. To me he doesn't have the greatest range and often times his voice sounds nasally flat. There's a lot of other artists who should be heading to A-List and Thomas is on the bottom.
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phil1996
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Post by phil1996 on Feb 7, 2016 0:03:19 GMT -5
Thomas Rhett's appeal is one of the things that baffles me. To me he doesn't have the greatest range and often times his voice sounds nasally flat. There's a lot of other artists who should be heading to A-List and Thomas is on the bottom. While I really enjoyed "Crash and Burn" + "Die a Happy Man", I agree with this. He just has a lot of catchy material. That's all it takes to get big anymore. Doesn't matter to radio. If there's a hot girl and a truck involved, it's gonna be a hit. Granger Smith (I still don't really know who the hell he is) and Florida Georgia Line are prime examples. Vocals aren't too good, but they make "catchy music", and they're extremely successful because of it.
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dm2081
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Post by dm2081 on Feb 7, 2016 1:34:14 GMT -5
^Its not always about having the best vocals. If that was the case, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and many others never would have been legendary stars. At some point it requires a sense of showmanship and charisma. Since he was specifically mentioned, Rhett definitely has these qualities. He knows how to work a crowd. He understands his target audience. He's vibrant, youthful and brings it to his performances. Florida Georgia Line understand the importance of theatrics and big stage productions that enhance a show. At the end of the day unless your the best singer on the planet (Adele, Chris Stapleton, etc.), you're going to have to move beyond the microphone stand, especially in a society focused on instant gratification and waning attention spans.
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