Brett Eldredge - "Illinois"

[phil1996]

www.cmt.com/artists/brett-eldredge/

1. Fire
2. You Cant Stop Me (ft Thomas Rhett)
3. Lose My Mind
4. Wanna Be That Song
5. Time Well Spent
6. If You Were My Girl
7. Illinois
8. Just a Taste
9. Drunk on your Love
10. Lose It All
11. Shadow
12. Going Away For a While

#4 and #12 are not on this listening party on CMT for some reason, but #4 is on spotify. Also, on that CMT link, tthey have 2 versions of You Can't Stop Me. One with Thomas and one without.

I must say I'm enjoying this quite a bit. Standouts are Lose It All, Illinois, If You Were My Girl, and Wanna Be That Song.. Going Away For a While sounded like it had potential to be really good off the previews but that'll have to wait a week it seems.

[Dustin J.]

I just listened to the duet w/Thomas Rhett...absolutely hate it. That almost guarantees it'll be a single at some point.

[Deleted]

You can pre order this album on Google Play for 4.99$

[phil1996]

Love:
If You Were My Girl
Illinois

Like:
Lose It All
Wanna Be That Song
You Can't Stop Me (catchy as hell)
Time Well Spent
Going Away For a While
Lose My Mind

Dislike:
Just a Taste
Drunk On Your Love
Fire
Shadow

Overall I like this a bit, there's a few duds, but definitely some strong tracks. I'm really hoping "If You Were My Girl" can be a single because that song is phenomenal. Great melody and vocal. Time Well Spent sounds like a hit, but too much alike Don't Ya. Shadow is weird, and doesn't really sound good.....I'd like to hear what Jay Joyce/Eric Church would do with that song.

I'm gonna guess Wanna Be That Song is the next single followed by probably the Thomas Rhett duet for next summer.

[ryanroberts]

Love Going Away For Awhile , Lose it All, Fire, Lose My Mind, Wanna Be That Song, If You Were My Girl, and Just A Taste.

[sabre14]

Brett Eldredge Showcases Songs and Soul at Album Preview Party:

WMN/Atlantic Records artist Brett Eldredge welcomed industry members yesterday (Sept. 10) on the eve of album release day for his sophomore project, Illinois.

Artist and label held an album listening party at Nashville’s Ocean Way Studios, where the majority of the album was recorded. The reigning CMA New Artist of the Year, known for his warm, r&b-tinged voice, garnered three chart-topping hits from his debut project Bring You Back, including “Beat of the Music,” “Don’t Ya” and “Mean To Me.” Its sonically cohesive, polished followup seems a confident, natural progression.

WMN CEO/president John Esposito predicted that Eldredge would very soon see his fourth consecutive No. 1 hit with his current chart-climber “Lose My Mind.” Clocking in at two minutes and 38 seconds, Eldredge noted it’s the shortest song he’s ever written. Eldredge co-wrote several tracks on the new 12-song set, including “Fire,” “Just A Taste,” “Lose It All,” and the title track.

In introducing what he called “probably my favorite song on the record,” Eldredge said, “I started hearing about people getting engaged to ‘Mean To Me’.” Prior to a concert at Kansas Motor Speedway, a reporter asked Eldredge what he ultimately wanted to do with his music. “I thought about how I want to be that song that leaves a mark on peoples’ lives.” He told songwriter Scooter Carusoe, just prior to taking the stage, “I wanna write a song called, ‘Wanna Be That Song.’” Three months later, Carusoe reminded him of the idea, and they co-wrote the track with writer Ross Copperman, who is also a co-producer on the album.

“Sometimes songs come back from the dead,” Eldredge quipped while introducing the infectious “Drunk On Your Love.” “Well, it wasn’t dead, but it took a nap. We wrote it back in 2012.” At the time, Eldredge was neighbors with Hayley Stommel, who married Florida Georgia Line member Tyler Hubbard earlier this year. “They asked to used the demo of the song in their wedding video. They put that video out of their wedding and used a bit of the song, and we knew people would be asking about it. So we had to hurry to update it and included it on the album.”

The album is not without its share of heartbreak songs, most notably the Bill Anderson co-write “Lose It All.” “I love a good heartbreak song,” commented Eldredge. “I’ve always idolized Bill Anderson. The song is about looking back at how bad you effed it up.”

The title track was co-written by another superstar, Tom Douglas. “I’ve always wanted an album called Illinois,” said Eldredge, who thanked Douglas for making the drive to Illinois to write with Eldredge. He also mentioned that Douglas was hearing the final version of the song for the first time during the preview at Ocean Way.

Though only his sophomore project, Illinois highlights an artist comfortable with the array of styles his smooth voice can authentically cover. The project offers more nods to r&b and ’70s rock than traditional country. He welcomes current tourmate Thomas Rhett on the ’70s vibe of “You Can’t Stop Me,” and takes risks with the hard rock riffs and distorted lead vocal on “Shadow.” Even the creation of “Shadow” was less than traditional. “We started with a beat-box, a vocal, and a stapler I grabbed off a desk to use for percussion,” said Eldredge.

After playing the album, Eldredge offered an acoustic, live rendition of “Drunk On Your Love.”

Eldredge ended the party by having the crowd record a singalong version of the chorus to “Drunk On Your Love.” But first, attendees got a little shot of bravery via an interesting alcoholic combination of whiskey and pickle juice. Eldredge gave thanks to the label, his co-writers, the album’s producers, and everyone in the industry who has made his career what it is thus far.

Music Row

[rsmatto]

Actually, he co-wrote the entire thing, not just "several of the songs."

As for potential singles aside from the Thomas Rhett song, the sticker says "Wanna Be that Song" and "Drunk On Your Love" on the CD but his first album said "One Mississippi" as a featured track. So we'll see what happens.

I think "Fire," "Just A Taste," and "Shadow" might have a shot too ("Shadow" is an in your face ball of energy a la Lenny Kravitz but could be huge). "Lose It All" and "Illinois" are great too but doubt radio will play 'em.

I love the ballads and do think there'll be plenty who dislike this record quite a bit (especially those who heard the entirity or most of the unreleased "One Way Ticket" album).

[sabre14]

Sept 11, 2015 14:35:59 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

Actually, he co-wrote the entire thing, not just "several of the songs."

Sorry, didn't see that part of the story.

I just can't anymore, in regards to the amount of typos or misinformation coming from Music Row and other country music outlets lately.

[rsmatto]

Sept 11, 2015 14:39:52 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Sept 11, 2015 14:35:59 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

Actually, he co-wrote the entire thing, not just "several of the songs."

Sorry, didn't see that part of the story.

I just can't anymore, in regards to the amount of typos or misinformation coming from Music Row and other country music outlets lately lately.

I try not to have typos myself, at least on that kind of info. lol. Technically, "several" isn't wrong but it suggests that he didn't write a track or two when he did. The news for Jewel's record said she wrote all of it but when I got the final CD version, it has one song written by Kip Moore, Brett James and Dan Couch on it. So even narratives can be misleading.

[Deleted]

I've listened to this twice. I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would. There's certainly no "bro" elements on here, and he surprisingly only tries to capture the Sam Hunt sound once on this record with Mr. Funk Daddy himself, Thomas Rhett. Theres actually some great songs here, maybe not as great as "Raymond" but "Lose It All" and "Illinois" come close. The problem with this record, much like his debut, is that there's just some unnecessary filler here, as well as some overproduced songs that might have been good otherwise. Two tracks that most people here probably dislike are "Fire" and "Shadow", and honestly, I like both of them. "Shadow" isn't a country song at all, but the inner rock fan in me likes it (and I'm a bit ashamed, given how many will crown this as the worst track on the record lol). "Fire" I just like for the energy that Brett brings. Overall I'd give it like a 3/5 probably

Love:
Wanna Be That Song
Illinois
Lose It All

Like:
Fire (yeah...)
Just A Taste
Shadow (yeah )

Meh:
If You Were My Girl
Drunk On Your Love
Going Away For A While

No:
You Can't Stop Me
Lose My Mind
Time Well Spent

[dm2081]

Single Predictions:
1. Lose My Mind
2. Wanna Be That Song (all signs pointing to it)
3. Drunk On Your Love
4. Fire

I'm actually on board with "Wanna Be That Song" being next, I think it could be a decent sized hit for him. "Drunk On Your Love" seems to be pretty popular on iTunes, and is the kind of song that radio eats up right now. "Fire" is safe radio filler for the 4th single to keep momentum going. I would love to see "Illinois" get a release, but I doubt it happens. I think its the strongest song on the album though.

[wilbur]

"fire" is the only song I really don't care for on the album. I think "lose it all" has to be a single at some point. great great song! I have liked it every since brett used to do the acoustic couch sessions.

[Kentucky25]

Really like this album, still trying to decide on whether I prefer this to his last album or not.

[Deleted]

Better than I anticipated, but still not my style. Not a fan of e-drums. Also, how many songs about being "drunk on your love" can we have? I used to think it was just songwriters pandering to absent-minded ADD fans, but now I'm just wondering if the writers are equally as absent-minded.

It suffers from overproduced bass guitar and drums, which lends to making most of the songs sound pretty similar (aside from melodies) just like the latest Dustin Lynch and Florida Georgia Line albums. When will they learn?

Anyway, "Wanna Be That Song" would be a good choice for the next single, I suppose.

But man, "Illinois" would have gone down as a multi-week number 1 about five years ago.

[codyj100]

I just got the album. I have to say, due to what people were saying about the pre-release tracks, I was definitely worried. I actually really like this album. It's not as good as his debut, but it doesn't fail at any point. There are really only two songs I don't like. Those being, "You Can't Stop Me" and "Shadow." That being said, this album is still Brett. It's similar to Dustin Lynch's Where It's At in that both Brett and Dustin pushed for more radio friendly material, but managed to add a few songs that are relatively true to who they are. Or who we, as fans were first introduced to. I'm not saying that "You Can't Stop Me" and "Shadow" are the worst songs I've ever heard, but they definitely push the envelope beyond country boundaries unlike anything else on the record. 

My top three favorites for this album have to be:

1. "Illinois"
2. "Lose It All"
3. "Going Away For Awhile"

I do wish that there would have been one more song, similar to "One Mississippi" or "Raymond" just to have that extra 'moment' for the album. This album shows growth for Brett as an artist. As long as he doesn't head down the Thomas Rhett or Florida Georgia Line path completely, I am still on board as a fan. Sure it's not the unreleased One Way Ticket album, but, I feel like we would be asking for too much. Radio wouldn't play material from the One Way Ticket album in today's climate. And, unless Brett wanted to risk being dropped from Atlantic/Warner, releasing an album like this that flavors country with pop is his best bet. 


I say GO BRETT! 

[onebuffalo]

#1 country, #3 top 200 CD with 44,000 sold. Congratulations, Brett Eldredge.

[phil1996]

^ Wow! Good for him.

[.indulgecountry]

Impressive debut for Brett. He basically doubled the first-week total of his first album, which opened with 21,000.