Kelsea Ballerini - "Unapologetically"

[.indulgecountry]

Kelsea Ballerini's sophomore album dropped today. Listen to it here:

[justin5545]

I really wanted to like this but I can't force myself too. IMO:

1. All the songs sound the same
2. None of this is country or radio friendly.
3. Most of the choruses are over-produced.

[phil1996]

Can't get into her at all. I liked Peter Pan but besides that, most of her catalog sounds like stuff you'd hear on a Kidz Bop album

[ClevelandRox]

On first listen, I like it better than her debut. Roses, High School and Get Over Yourself were my standouts. Legends was the last song and I've already completely forgotten it again.

[.indulgecountry]

Looking at a pretty strong opening sales week:

Nov 4, 2017 12:52:52 GMT -5 Duca said:

YOUR THRILLING NEW RELEASES

Sam Smith will score his first #1 album as his sophomore release, The Thrill of It All, is projected to debut on top of our SPS and album charts next Friday. Based on early reads, here's where Sam and a few other key debuts seem to be headed.

Kelsea Ballerini (Black River) 33-38k, 29-32k

Considering most of the new females are struggling to do more than 10-20k, this is a great showing for Kelsea Ballerini, especially considering "Legends" isn't even Top 20 yet and not selling that strongly. It's also about 3x more than what she opened with for The First Time 2.5 years ago, so that's a nice increase. Happy for her!

[sapphire]

This is so underwhelming for me and a big step down from her debut. The songs released early are the potential singles imo. Not surprised with her sales considering the success of the singles in her debut album. It could've been even higher if they had a better lead single though.

[dm2081]

Yeah, those sales numbers just show what a missed opportunity this era has been. With a dynamic lead single, I think she could have been close to the 45-50k range which really would have been impressive. Still, solid numbers for her though considering the situation. Unfortunately, I don't hear any obvious big hits on this album.

[.indulgecountry]

I think she's still looking at a big era here. "Legends" hasn't been huge for her, but it should still go down as a sizable hit, and I'm definitely hearing some big hits on this record, with some potential for crossover airplay even. I feel like the sound of this album is trying to mold her into the female answer to the demographic eating up the music from Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett, the latter of which she recently went on tour with (so that makes sense there). "Miss Me More," "Roses," "I Hate Love Songs," and the title track all sound like they have potential to be hits for her, with 1 or 2 of them possibly doing some crossover damage. I don't see "Legends" being the biggest hit from the album, so I think she'll be more than fine, especially given that having only a minimum of two hit singles from this record would be enough to make her one of the most successful female artists at country radio, since the majority of her peers are lucky to get one and follow-up hits are so unlikely.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Nov 5, 2017 18:45:46 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

so I think she'll be more than fine, especially given that having only a minimum of two hit singles from this record would be enough to make her one of the most successful female artists at country radio, since the majority of her peers are lucky to get one and follow-up hits are so unlikely.

Haven’t heard the album yet so can’t comment on the first half but this second part has literally been on my mind all week. Since the turn of the century she’d be only the 5th or 6th* female artist to have a successful second album era on radio. So provided she has that hit she’d be doing better than almost all her peers.

01. Miranda Lambert
02. Carrie Underwood
03. Taylor Swift
04. Jamie O’Neal
05. Gretchen Wilson or Jana Kramer*

*depends on what you consider a successful radio era.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Ok finally listening.

Lyrically this is much stronger overall than her debut, less country by a lot but what is here is very good. I'm liking all the songs so far and I can hear a few of them as big hits. The key here is hoping "Legends" didn't kill momentum for her. I'm 50/50 in the debate on how well it's doing. I expected more but not really that much more. I'm very interested to see what they pick for 2nd single. I personally love "In Between" the most so far but I don't think it's single potential really. "Roses" feels like the hit of the album.

[Deleted]

I love this album though sonically a lot of the songs are similar

Highlights: Roses, Graveyard, Music, Legends, and Get Over Yourself

Though nothing reaches the level of Peter Pan for me

[kim8]

Still have 3 songs to listen to but I have to say I love Miss Me More. What a jam! I really hope that is a single. Kind of Carrie Underwoodish to me. It’s just such a fun song.

I still really like Legends and Unapologetically needs to be a single also.

[Elusive Chanteuse]

I liked the debut album better but lyrically, this is better. Roses is the huge, gigantic smash of the album. I hope they go with that next.

I also think if they go four singles deep like they did with the debut, then they should do Roses, I Hate Love Songs, and Miss Me More. I chose Miss Me More over Unapologetically because it sounds like a sassy Carrie Underwood track and it’s so fun! But Unapologetically is a good option as well.

[.indulgecountry]

I know she performed "I Hate Love Songs" on one of the late night shows a few nights ago, but wavey.✨️ pointed out to me today that currently it's in the Top 50 on iTunes all-genre. Nice early indicator that it could be a hit for her.

[bigfan101]

This morning on GMA, she preformed Roses and the title track.

[wavey.✨️]

Music's production reminds me of "Love On The Brain".

[onebuffalo]

#3 country, #7 top 200 album with 35,000 sold. Congratulations, Kelsea Ballerini.

[George Strait Junkie]

oh hell no. kinda enjoyed her 1st. but this album WTF is this. the only song i even kinda like is the single "Legends". i don't know maybe i need more time with it.

[zaclord 🌈]

Wow, with me being underwhelmed with "Legends" at first and "Unapologetically" and "High School" not impressing me much as pre-release tracks, I did not expect to like this album at all. But somehow the more I listen to it, the more I love it. I even love "Legends" and the pre-release songs a lot more now too. I like "Get Over Yourself" and "I Hate Love Songs" are my favorites though. But I really love every song here. At this point, I think I love it even more than "First Time", which I did not expect at all.

[LBTrocks]

Finally getting around to checking this album out but I am stuck on "Miss Me More" because it is FIRE!!!!!! I am in love with this song. To a really high extent. Obsessed. Send help.

I might have more thoughts on the album later once I actually GET to the rest of the album

[Deleted]

I do like "Unapologetically" and "Graveyard" a lot and I hope those two songs get released as singles and "Roses" as well, any one of those 3 would be great to hear on the radio. Besides that the rest of this album is kind of boring or each song has some part to it I don't like.

Maybe it's just me but I don't hear what's so good or radio friendly about "I Hate Love Songs". It just doesn't sound like a hit to me.

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2017 19:49:38 GMT -5 justin5545 said:

1. All the songs sound the same

Quoted for truth. What was she thinking when making the album? I suppose she confused being more mature, with being boring. I have only listened limitedly, so there is the off chance I will like a couple of songs with more listens, but right out of the gate, this is a thumbs down for me.

[tryexp]

I really hope they eventually release the deluxe version that was talked about a couple months ago...I like the album but I do feel some of the songs she played live were way better than some of the ones released.

[.indulgecountry]

Nov 24, 2017 14:46:14 GMT -5 tryexp said:

I really hope they eventually release the deluxe version that was talked about a couple months ago...I like the album but I do feel some of the songs she played live were way better than some of the ones released.

Personally, I hope not. I hate when artists do re-releases to make fans have to buy the album again for a few extra songs. Maybe she can just hold onto a few of those songs and find a way to make them work for album #3 in a couple years.