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Post by countrymusicjunkie on May 16, 2016 19:10:55 GMT -5
Anyone else surprised this isn't selling better? Currently #24 on iTunes country chart. I would've expected it to be much higher considering it's the lead single off a new album and has been getting a lot of airplay, plus I thought having Demi Lovato on it would help.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on May 16, 2016 21:33:02 GMT -5
The ad in Aircheck (120 total stations reporting spins for this song) as the single biggest add day of Brad's career.
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tvoss20
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Post by tvoss20 on May 16, 2016 22:02:19 GMT -5
Another subpar 'meh' song from Brad. Beat This Summer is the last song of his to even catch my attention. His career is toast in my eyes/ears.
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 16, 2016 22:38:18 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought about commenting in the adds thread that while Brad Paisley has always been a pretty big star (even though he's leveled off the past few album eras), I was definitely not expecting him to come away with that many first-week adds. Very impressive. As for the song, I'm in the "I like it, but I could stand to like it more" camp, which disappoints me since I LOVE Demi Lovato so the minute I heard of this duet happening, I was pretty excited. I'm fairly confident (pun intended, lol) that this will grow on me a bit though as I hear it more, because I already liked it more after a couple listens than I did on the first, similar to 43dudleyvillas response.
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nick64
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Post by nick64 on May 17, 2016 14:38:58 GMT -5
I really like this. It's a typical Brad song, but the feature makes it stand out, and Brad and Demi both sound great. It's really catchy too, so I hope this brings him back to #1.
And I know it probably won't happen, but I would love to see Demi tackle a country album.
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trebor
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Post by trebor on May 18, 2016 5:36:25 GMT -5
Totally OT but this somehow reminds me of vintage Bryan Adams.
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Kentucky25
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Post by Kentucky25 on May 18, 2016 10:12:24 GMT -5
I've only listened to this once so far, and I didn't like it as much as I was hoping to. Demi strikes me as an odd duet partner, especially on a song about "getting it on", mostly because she's so much younger than Brad. This is mostly my problem with the song. It just feels weird. I've never been a major fan of Brad's voice and so if the lyrics and production aren't there, I usually pass on his songs. He has an older sound to him and mixing that with Demi's young and lively voice it does add a certain level of weirdness to the song for me. I want to like it, I just don't really. I would say the recent Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani duet works a lot better for me (even Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban's "The Fighter" works better, maybe because it doesn't take itself so seriously).
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 10:37:55 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it.
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Post by 43dudleyvillas on May 18, 2016 11:32:58 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. To be fair, Taylor's part of "The Highway Don't Care" is supposed to be a voice on the radio, not singing directly to Tim McGraw, whereas Brad & Demi are in the role of lovers in a really volatile, passionate relationship. And speaking of roles, I recall some comments here from people who found it odd when Brad and Carrie sang as a married couple trying to recapture their spark, not because of the ten year age difference between them but because they seem to have such a brother-sister relationship in real life. On the other hand, is the twenty year age difference between Brad and Demi that much different from the 15 1/2 year age difference between Keith and Carrie? I'll disagree a bit with Kentucky25 and say that I don't think Demi sounds too young here (to my ears, her voice doesn't sound that much younger than, say, Carrie's), but on the other hand, I do agree with his comment about "Without a Fight" having an "older sound." For me, the guitar riff has a throwback rock feel to it and there's a brightness to Demi's vocal tone that does scan as comparatively young to the era with which I associate the song musically. I guess that's my way of saying that "Without a Fight" doesn't sound super-current to me. That's not a criticism. But it may connect to this: Anyone else surprised this isn't selling better? Currently #24 on iTunes country chart. I would've expected it to be much higher considering it's the lead single off a new album and has been getting a lot of airplay, plus I thought having Demi Lovato on it would help. Brad has lost quite a bit of amount of commercial momentum, but yes, I was under the impression that the "Lovatics" are a pretty intense fanbase, so I'm a little surprised they didn't turn out more for this song. On the other hand, maybe the song does sound too "old school" for Demi fans. Or maybe there is a bit of culture shock at work in the collaboration. So the core fanbases don't appear to have been hugely excited out of the gate, and now the thing to watch is how "Without a Fight" connects as it makes its way up the airplay charts. Brad & Demi will also perform the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 24 May.
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 18, 2016 12:03:15 GMT -5
Brad has lost quite a bit of amount of commercial momentum, but yes, I was under the impression that the "Lovatics" are a pretty intense fanbase, so I'm a little surprised they didn't turn out more for this song. On the other hand, maybe the song does sound too "old school" for Demi fans. Or maybe there is a bit of culture shock at work in the collaboration. So the core fanbases don't appear to have been hugely excited out of the gate, and now the thing to watch is how "Without a Fight" connects as it makes its way up the airplay charts. Brad & Demi will also perform the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 24 May. Demi Lovato doesn't frequently draw very big sales numbers, actually. Many of her singles since her CHR breakthrough with "Give Your Heart a Break" have become pop hits despite not having the best digital sales. She doesn't quite sell poorly per se, but her successes at pop radio are more a result of goodwill from radio and name recognition over "hey, this song is selling a ton," so I'm not really surprised that just having her being on this hasn't spurred a lot of initial interest all on its own.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 12:10:01 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. My problem with "Highway Don't Care" was how overproduced the song was. Seriously Taylor Swift sounded drowned out entirely.
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Post by babybuffalo on May 18, 2016 14:51:48 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. I didn't but I love every aspect of the song - the writing, how it was produced, and the video. If this was a regular single from Brad I would say it was just okay. Demi doesn't add anything to it in my opinion. This song doesn't need to be a duet. Demi and Brad's voices together are not this amazing combo. The more I think about it the more I feel like this was a misguided attempt from Brad and his team to get a hit again by bringing someone from outside the genre. If you are going to do that your song and vocals better be fantastic and ”Without A Fight” just isn't.
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Kentucky25
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Post by Kentucky25 on May 18, 2016 15:04:47 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. To be fair, Taylor's part of "The Highway Don't Care" is supposed to be a voice on the radio, not singing directly to Tim McGraw, whereas Brad & Demi are in the role of lovers in a really volatile, passionate relationship. And speaking of roles, I recall some comments here from people who found it odd when Brad and Carrie sang as a married couple trying to recapture their spark, not because of the ten year age difference between them but because they seem to have such a brother-sister relationship in real life. On the other hand, is the twenty year age difference between Brad and Demi that much different from the 15 1/2 year age difference between Keith and Carrie? I'll disagree a bit with Kentucky25 and say that I don't think Demi sounds too young here (to my ears, her voice doesn't sound that much younger than, say, Carrie's), but on the other hand, I do agree with his comment about "Without a Fight" having an "older sound." For me, the guitar riff has a throwback rock feel to it and there's a brightness to Demi's vocal tone that does scan as comparatively young to the era with which I associate the song musically. I guess that's my way of saying that "Without a Fight" doesn't sound super-current to me. That's not a criticism. But it may connect to this: Anyone else surprised this isn't selling better? Currently #24 on iTunes country chart. I would've expected it to be much higher considering it's the lead single off a new album and has been getting a lot of airplay, plus I thought having Demi Lovato on it would help. Brad has lost quite a bit of amount of commercial momentum, but yes, I was under the impression that the "Lovatics" are a pretty intense fanbase, so I'm a little surprised they didn't turn out more for this song. On the other hand, maybe the song does sound too "old school" for Demi fans. Or maybe there is a bit of culture shock at work in the collaboration. So the core fanbases don't appear to have been hugely excited out of the gate, and now the thing to watch is how "Without a Fight" connects as it makes its way up the airplay charts. Brad & Demi will also perform the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 24 May. Honestly the age difference for Carrie and Keith doesn't bother me because Carrie feels more "adult" than Demi. Not sure why, but I wouldn't even consider and age gap between Carrie and Keith. Never crossed my mind.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 19:28:37 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. I'm not particularly fond of assuming anything of other posters, but I'll answer your question. No, I didn't have an issue with "Highway Don't Care" for the reasons that 43dudleyvillas pointed out. "Highway Don't Care" isn't really a love song between Tim and Taylor, certainly not in the way that "Remind Me", "The Fighter", and "Without A Fight" are. Also, I guess I don't really feel like "issue" is even the right word to describe how I feel about about "Without A Fight". It's just not connecting with me, because the pairing of Brad and Demi doesn't seem like a natural pairing (again, in my opinion). Maybe it's because Brad is a veteran country artist and Demi is a young pop starlet? The pairings of Brad and Carrie and Keith and Carrie work really well for me, because they feel so much more believable. Sure, Keith's quite a bit older than Carrie, but they're all major hit-makers within the country genre. Furthermore, while Carrie is younger than both Brad and Keith, she's older than me by several years (I'm 26, for the record), whereas Demi isn't. I know Demi Lovato wasn't a childhood Disney star like Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus were, but I always seem to view her in that way, even though I'm well aware that she's 23. But again, Demi singing a back-and-forth love song with Brad isn't the main reason why "Without A Fight" isn't quite connecting with me. They do strike me as an odd pairing for a duet, but mostly it's the song itself that isn't quite grabbing me.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 5:36:07 GMT -5
I like this. Kind of annoyed this 80s/90s country-rock song is exploding and "Parachute" is struggling though.
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on May 19, 2016 6:32:24 GMT -5
Finally got around to listening to this, but I'm not liking this as much as I expected to. I like both Brad and Demi, so I was looking forward to this, but the song's just not doing it for me right now. I like it, but it's kind of there for me.
I'm not surprised it's not selling that well because neither Brad nor Demi have never been big digital sellers anyway. I do think sales should pick up at least a little bit once airplay starts to grow though.
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Kentucky25
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Post by Kentucky25 on May 19, 2016 10:05:35 GMT -5
Did you guys have a similar issue with "Highway Don't Care"? Didn't even think of it. I'm not particularly fond of assuming anything of other posters, but I'll answer your question. No, I didn't have an issue with "Highway Don't Care" for the reasons that 43dudleyvillas pointed out. "Highway Don't Care" isn't really a love song between Tim and Taylor, certainly not in the way that "Remind Me", "The Fighter", and "Without A Fight" are. Also, I guess I don't really feel like "issue" is even the right word to describe how I feel about about "Without A Fight". It's just not connecting with me, because the pairing of Brad and Demi doesn't seem like a natural pairing (again, in my opinion). Maybe it's because Brad is a veteran country artist and Demi is a young pop starlet? The pairings of Brad and Carrie and Keith and Carrie work really well for me, because they feel so much more believable. Sure, Keith's quite a bit older than Carrie, but they're all major hit-makers within the country genre. Furthermore, while Carrie is younger than both Brad and Keith, she's older than me by several years (I'm 26, for the record), whereas Demi isn't. I know Demi Lovato wasn't a childhood Disney star like Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus were, but I always seem to view her in that way, even though I'm well aware that she's 23. But again, Demi singing a back-and-forth love song with Brad isn't the main reason why "Without A Fight" isn't quite connecting with me. They do strike me as an odd pairing for a duet, but mostly it's the song itself that isn't quite grabbing me. This is what my issue is, I just couldn't elaborate it as well as you did lol.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on May 19, 2016 11:34:10 GMT -5
I like this. Kind of annoyed this 80s/90s country-rock song is exploding and "Parachute" is struggling though. Its exploding because it's Brad and he's still a format giant with 16 years of hits. "Parachute" will likely need a moderate chart climb to reach mass audience, which I was expecting.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 11:42:27 GMT -5
I like this. Kind of annoyed this 80s/90s country-rock song is exploding and "Parachute" is struggling though. Glad you like it but this isn't a great choice to compare to "Parachute". Brad is a format star (former superstar) and he's got a pop star on it with him. Lead single from a new album and it's a good tune. Stapleton has had one hit ever. I'm in the same boat as you: when will radio stop shooting themselves in the proverbial foot and play what the people want to hear (Stapleton)?!? But a more fitting question would be: why is Stapleton given the cold shoulder while steaming piles of terd songs are given easy rides to success ("Snapback", Chris Lane, Chase Rice, "Home Alone Tonight", etc).
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 11:47:57 GMT -5
I like this. Kind of annoyed this 80s/90s country-rock song is exploding and "Parachute" is struggling though. Glad you like it but this isn't a great choice to compare to "Parachute". Brad is a format star (former superstar) and he's got a pop star on it with him. Lead single from a new album and it's a good tune. Stapleton has had one hit ever. I'm in the same boat as you: when will radio stop shooting themselves in the proverbial foot and play what the people want to hear (Stapleton)?!? I realize that (the former paragraph). That's what's annoying, especially when Chris is selling so well.
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matty005
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Post by matty005 on May 19, 2016 12:24:43 GMT -5
I like this. Kind of annoyed this 80s/90s country-rock song is exploding and "Parachute" is struggling though. Glad you like it but this isn't a great choice to compare to "Parachute". Brad is a format star (former superstar) and he's got a pop star on it with him. Lead single from a new album and it's a good tune. Stapleton has had one hit ever. I'm in the same boat as you: when will radio stop shooting themselves in the proverbial foot and play what the people want to hear (Stapleton)?!? But a more fitting question would be: why is Stapleton given the cold shoulder while steaming piles of terd songs are given easy rides to success ("Snapback", Chris Lane, Chase Rice, "Home Alone Tonight", etc). Chase Rice hasn't had an easy road. His first single charged for almost a year before peaking. And his last singled bombed. Home Alone Tonight is a song by the biggest star in country radio right now. Can't really compare that.
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djHayStack
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Post by djHayStack on May 19, 2016 12:56:25 GMT -5
Another subpar 'meh' song from Brad. Beat This Summer is the last song of his to even catch my attention. His career is toast in my eyes/ears. I'm a huge BP fan, but I'm afraid you may be right. This one got massive spins due to iFart radio, but everyone is already backing off it pretty hard from what I see on MB details. I'll be shocked if it doesn't stiff. Not good for Brad.
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justme60
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Post by justme60 on May 19, 2016 14:11:24 GMT -5
I like Brad as a host on the awards show, but never cared for much of his music. His songs are hit and miss with me. I never felt he was that good of a vocalist and his songs were always ho-hum..verging on boring. The only songs I liked of his were when he sang duets with Dolly and Allison Krass. He should have stuck with another country lady, IMO. Not that I have anything against Demi...she's not a bad vocalist, but she does not fit with Brad.
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nick64
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Post by nick64 on May 19, 2016 16:55:15 GMT -5
I know Demi Lovato wasn't a childhood Disney star like Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus were, but I always seem to view her in that way, even though I'm well aware that she's 23. She actually was. She was always third-string to those two in that Disney generation. She was the star of Camp Rock and Sonny with a Chance. Anyway, I don't have a problem with the age difference, because they still sound good together to for me. A great artist can sing from a perspective that isn't their own, and I find both Brad and Demi to be great artists. Also, Keith and Carrie is a more believable combination because at a certain point, age becomes less important. People in their 30s and 40s are together all the time. For example, my sister is 33 and married to a 45 year old. 23 and 43 is seen as bit more extreme though.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on May 24, 2016 14:42:03 GMT -5
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 25, 2016 23:02:26 GMT -5
And here's the performance:
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Post by countryboy79 on May 26, 2016 4:33:18 GMT -5
Anyone else surprised this isn't selling better? Currently #24 on iTunes country chart. I would've expected it to be much higher considering it's the lead single off a new album and has been getting a lot of airplay, plus I thought having Demi Lovato on it would help. Even after the performance by Jimmy Kimmel and the song has had a boost on Itunes ... it remains outside the top 200.
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Ten Pound Hammer
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Post by Ten Pound Hammer on May 30, 2016 17:34:34 GMT -5
I love how the two sound on this. Like Carrie on "Remind Me", Demi kind of overpowers him with her belting (especially near the end), but also like on that song, I don't feel that Brad is phoning in the vocals either. (That's been something I've noticed since about Time Well Wasted -- his voice has gotten a LOT flatter over time.)
This song has very solid and definitely country lyrics. Maybe not the most original, but refreshing in their style. It's also a lot better produced than most of his self-production jobs, as I've found a lot of his production quite bloated ever since he started self-producing on Wheelhouse. Even the guitar playing is great on this: I'm not usually a fan of his style since he tends to favor rapid-fire noodling over actual melody, but on this one, the playing is a lot more melodic, and I like the delay pedal effect he's using.
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maddkat
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Post by maddkat on Jun 17, 2016 6:18:14 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2016 23:47:22 GMT -5
This song has grown on me a ton, and that video is awesome. I love the focus on the two of them (rather than having actors), and I really liked how the director chose to film and edit it.
I think Brad sounds really good here, and I love the guitar riffs, and Demi sounds sooo good, too. I love when she comes in on the line "and sometimes I think / it couldn't be any better". I just love how she sings the words "think" and "better" -- I don't know how to exactly explain it, but she just sounds really good on those parts especially.
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