Brad Paisley - "Today"

[bboat11]

Artist: Brad Paisley
Single: "Today"
Writers: Brad Paisley, Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley
Album: TBD
Label: Arista Nashville
Add Date: October 10, 2016
Source: "Future Releases" on All Access

New song from Brad Paisley called "Today" coming on October 10th, according to the Future Releases section of All Access!

[sabre14]

Source on Twitter says this will be debuted Thursday at radio, meaning iHeartmedia hourly play. I'm assuming it'll go to iTunes next Friday.

[someguy]

This could be a make or break single for Brad. For his sake, I hope it connects with fans and radio.

[codyj100]

I am happy to see they are moving on from "Without A Fight." I quickly got bored with that song and kept wondering when something else was going to be released. I guess it is safe to assume that we won't see an album from Brad until 2017 now. This will then act as the lead single. Unless, they keep "Without A Fight" on the new album...as they did with Kenny's "Noise." 

[rsmatto]

Oct 1, 2016 12:23:33 GMT -5 codyj100 said:

I am happy to see they are moving on from "Without A Fight." I quickly got bored with that song and kept wondering when something else was going to be released. I guess it is safe to assume that we won't see an album from Brad until 2017 now. This will then act as the lead single. Unless, they keep "Without A Fight" on the new album...as they did with Kenny's "Noise." 

Why not? There no harm in doing that.

[jemz]

Saw a Facebook post from one of the industry folks who had an early listen of the song... She said that it's a "tear-jerker", "hit" and "there wasn't a dry eye in the room". Ballad for sure, and I'm so excited about it! Nothing hits me like a good country ballad. Hopefully this puts him back on his hit-maker path. Hopeful.

[codyj100]

Oct 1, 2016 20:55:39 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

Oct 1, 2016 12:23:33 GMT -5 codyj100 said:

I am happy to see they are moving on from "Without A Fight." I quickly got bored with that song and kept wondering when something else was going to be released. I guess it is safe to assume that we won't see an album from Brad until 2017 now. This will then act as the lead single. Unless, they keep "Without A Fight" on the new album...as they did with Kenny's "Noise." 

Why not? There no harm in doing that.

No, there's no harm in doing that at all. I was just stating that they could most likely do the same thing as Kenny. 

[hunterwriter]

So should we still expect an album this year? Or probably early 2017 huh? Really hope he gets back to basics on this one. 

[zaclord 🌈]

Oct 3, 2016 10:43:41 GMT -5 hunterwriter said:

So should we still expect an album this year? Or probably early 2017 huh? Really hope he gets back to basics on this one. 

I'd say March/April would be a good guess for an album if this song is looking to be a potential #1 hit for him by the first of the year.

[vann]

I´ve always loved Brad´s ballads and if this one is really a ballad,I am already anxious!

[trustypepper]

I wish "Without a Fight" would have caught on more. Based on some of these comments, I'm highly anticipating this release. I agree that it could be a make or break single for Brad.

[jdbowman]

Oct 1, 2016 1:21:20 GMT -5 someguy said:

This could be a make or break single for Brad. For his sake, I hope it connects with fans and radio.

I think Brad is past the "make or break" point of his career. He has a big enough fan base + catalog that he if something doesn't hit, he can just come up with something new and there will be buzz.

[bboat11]

Oct 3, 2016 15:49:40 GMT -5 jdbowman said:

Oct 1, 2016 1:21:20 GMT -5 someguy said:

This could be a make or break single for Brad. For his sake, I hope it connects with fans and radio.

I think Brad is past the "make or break" point of his career. He has a big enough fan base + catalog that he if something doesn't hit, he can just come up with something new and there will be buzz.

But I definitely feel that he is at a point where radio is starting to move on. Once you pass a certain age, the line gets thinner and thinner between radio success and irrelevance. Brad has been seeing waning success for awhile now, and after a relatively non-impactful single like "Without A Fight", he is not necessarily guaranteed a free pass back into radio success. Kinda like Joe Nichols disappeared after "Hard To Be Cool" struggled, Sara Evans disappeared after "My Heart Can't Tell You No" struggled, and Gary Allan struggled after "Pieces" failed to connect. All of them were coming off of hugely successful comebacks, and Joe and Sara are at least similar ages to Brad.

Of course Brad is a higher-profile artist than either of them, but the fact is that he used to hit #1 with almost every release, and now he has missed the top 10 about the same amount that he has hit it in the last 6 years. Considering that "Crushin' It" and "Country Nation" barely made the top 20, and "Without A Fight" actually missed it, this could definitely be a make-or-break single for Brad Paisley. His days of radio success are numbered, and every non-impactful single decreases his chances of becoming a consistent radio force again. "Today" could determine whether he will now be an artist who struggles to make the top 20, or goes back to consistently getting in the top 5. If it can't connect, and he gets a second weak single before his new album even gets released, the chances of him having a successful era with subsequent singles is pretty small unfortunately...

Edit: And of course his fanbase will still continue to support him, with or without radio success. Every artist just faces that inevitable moment when their radio relevance starts to wane, and Brad Paisley has had much more leeway the last few years than most veterans who start to stumble, imo.

[sabre14]

This ad was in Country Aircheck's email this afternoon.



Judging by what people have been saying who have heard this song, and by the artwork/title in this ad, I'm almost expecting this to be in a similar vein to "Don't Blink" or "You're Gonna Miss This."

[dajross6]

I'm hoping for something akin to "Then", which I think ranks up with his best and is often overlooked in his discography. I'm not going to lie, I absolutely love some of his songs, but there have been some real snoozers for me over the last 5-6 years. Occasional hit, but so many are forgettable.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Oct 5, 2016 1:04:54 GMT -5 dajross6 said:

I'm hoping for something akin to "Then", which I think ranks up with his best and is often overlooked in his discography. I'm not going to lie, I absolutely love some of his songs, but there have been some real snoozers for me over the last 5-6 years. Occasional hit, but so many are forgettable.

I honestly thought "Then" was a snooze. I mean, count the cliches in the chorus:

Now you're my whole life (1)
Now you're my whole world (2)
I just can't believe
The way I feel about you girl (3 + 1 more for the girl/world rhyme, so 4)
Like a river meets the sea (5)
Stronger than its ever been (6)
We've come so far since that day (7)
And I thought I loved you then (8)

[sabre14]

I think "Then" is a vapid nothingness, derprived of creative lyrics or an interesting melody.

My least favorite Brad song: "Today" has got to be better. lol

[Deleted]

Wow, the things you never knew before coming to a message board. And here I was thinking a mutil-platinum song that peaked inside the top 30 all genre would have been a good one...

[.indulgecountry]

Oct 5, 2016 7:22:41 GMT -5 @nickv1025 said:

Wow, the things you never knew before coming to a message board. And here I was thinking a mutil-platinum song that peaked inside the top 30 all genre would have been a good one...

Pretty sure you know as well as anybody that doesn't make a song "good." I guarantee I could find some highly successful songs from the last few years that didn't have a fiddle you'd view as being "not good" in spite of their popularity.

[Deleted]

Oct 5, 2016 7:32:15 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Oct 5, 2016 7:22:41 GMT -5 @nickv1025 said:

Wow, the things you never knew before coming to a message board. And here I was thinking a mutil-platinum song that peaked inside the top 30 all genre would have been a good one...

Pretty sure you know as well as anybody that doesn't make a song "good." I guarantee I could find some highly successful songs from the last few years that didn't have a fiddle you'd view as being "not good" in spite of their popularity.

Lol, I just think that 1) Brad has a lot less fans here on this board than his proportion of fans in real life and 2) you could take almost any love song and say it's cliche.

[sabre14]

Brad is one of my all-time favorite artists...I just think "Then" is terrible.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

I will say one nice thing about "Then": it's one of his better vocals.

It's funny. I think that Brad is a very meh singer and I don't like his guitar playing very much (tinny tone, too much noodling, not enough melody), but his songs still connect with me a lot more often than not.

[Andy]

I have to agree with Ten Pound Hammer and sabre14, I enjoy Brad's music but found "Then" to be instantly forgettable.

[bboat11]

I honestly feel like "cliched" is thrown around way too much around here with regards to love songs. And the problem with that is it is automatically implied that "cliched" is synonymous with "bad". I have always seen "Then" as being WAY more descriptive than most other love songs, the way it describes the first date, the proposal, the pregnancies, the growing old together, etc. Most other love songs just say "I love you, and these are all the ways I feel my love for you," giving a long list of romantic schlock that could apply to any relationship. But "Then" gives their love some much-needed history to make it actually believable and sweet.

Besides, the hook is brilliant, imo. The whole premise of describing how good the love USED to be and then hinting that it pales in comparison to how it is now is super unique. I'm not going to say it hadn't been done before, but it is rare at best. Sure the lyrics of the chorus are cliched, but it doesn't reach that point until the relationship is already firmly established in the listener's mind. By the time the chorus comes I've seen the first date jitters, I've seen the first kiss under the porchlight, and I've seen how the love has played out over several weeks, and ultimately by that point I WANT to hear about how much they love each other! There is context surrounding the cliches that make them actually meaningful, and similar to the way you actually feel when you are in love.

Now, not liking the song because of the melody, vocal performance, production, etc. are all perfectly valid reasons. But I feel like to take issue with the lyrics because of a few cliches is to completely miss the point of the song. It's a love song, so it is bound to have cliches. But the verses give a context, timeline, and backstory to the cliches that make them so much more than just empty declarations of love, which makes "Then" automatically much deeper than 99% of the other love songs we hear.

[sabre14]

Wow, I don't think the lyrics are creative or very descriptive. I'm looking at them right now and my opinion hasn't changed. I think the song's premise was good but executed poorly, which is extremely rare for Brad in my view. I'm not saying I give a pass to other love songs for the same, similar cliches but I find the lyrics to "Then" forgettable. The melody is so boring too. I'm just so uninterested in the song's flow and progression. Production is fine, as is Brad's vocals, but it's a bore-fest if I've ever heard one.

I love the detailed breakdown though bboat11. :)

[sabre14]

World Premiere:

m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=wNeTMrNOVcs

[g8erboi]

Just heard this on my iHeart station. Absolutely amazing; best thing he's released since "Perfect Storm" in my opinion. Surefire #1.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Not bad it may grow on me more but it's mid pack from him for me. I don't really like the melody and I feel like I've heard this one from him before.

[sabre14]

I listened to this a few times on my ride home from school (played the YouTube video through my auxput).

I thought it was clunky, lyrically in some spots on first listen but it seemed less forced the more I heard it. I actually think the melody is decent and while we've heard this song from Brad before, it sounds like a more vintage ballad from Brad. Lyrics are mostly good, a few predictable lines in there, but I enjoy the hook a lot.

"and the memory of a day like today, can get you through the rest of your life."

[George Strait Junkie]

well i like it good job Brad