New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[.indulgecountry]

22. "Make It Me" - Mickey Guyton

Total: 268

wavey. : 3
SHOOTER : 5
nuggie99 : 6
George Strait Junkie : 13
LBTrocks : 14
zaclord 🌈 : 17
castleoblivion26 : 21
🌺CountryLineDancer : 21
kluen : 22
.indulgecountry : 22
Darkest Hour : 22
Kris Kringle : 23
bboat11 : 26
kw9461 : 26
tim : 27

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Apartment
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
Highway
The Hill
I Am Not Okay
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
The Man He Sees in Me
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
Wild Is Her Favorite Color
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Mickey Guyton is at her best when she pairs her powerful vocals with a powerful lyric. Sadly, "Make It Me" is just a bit too much on the fluffy side of things, and it shows in the results as this Disco-flavored ditty misses the top 20, a steep fall from the top 5 finish of "Scary Love" a few months prior. Still, she was not without her fans, as she managed a trio of top 10 ranks. However, there were way more participants who placed this in the 20s than anything.

[.indulgecountry]

21. "I Am Not Okay" - Jelly Roll

Total: 265

castleoblivion26 : 1
Kris Kringle : 6
kw9461 : 7
tim : 8
bboat11 : 10
LBTrocks : 19
wavey. : 20
🌺CountryLineDancer : 20
SHOOTER : 20
George Strait Junkie : 20
Darkest Hour : 25
kluen : 27
.indulgecountry : 27
nuggie99 : 27
zaclord 🌈 : 28

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Apartment
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
Highway
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
The Man He Sees in Me
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
Wild Is Her Favorite Color
You Look Like You Love Me

[LBTrocks]

I need to catch up!

"Make It Me" snuck tf up on me, so catchy!!

I love Jelly Roll and "I'm Not Okay" is pretty good, but, not amazing. He has way better

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

I respect Jelly Roll's approach to be open about his mental health and incorporate into his music, just like this song, but the execution was okay at best. I really like his debut Son of A Sinner, but everything after has been underwhelming, and I kinda feel tired of him at this point. 

[.indulgecountry]

Jelly Roll just opened up his Beautifully Broken album with great figures and chart performance, but the lead single, "I Am Not Okay" received a lukewarm response from Pulse here. He brings a welcome perspective to the country music landscape, which is reflected in this song's lyrics. That said, it's just a bit boring imo, and I seem to not be alone in that judgment call as it managed a quartet of bottom 5s. OTOH, castleoblivion26 is our latest participant to lose their #1 rank, and four others see a top 10 loss in the process.

[nuggie99]

Make it Me: Generally Mickey Guyton songs don't do much for me, but I really liked this. I like a little funk in my country (see Juicy by Abby Anderson or Bill Anderson's version of Orleans'ses Still the One). So of course, most everybody else ranked it in the 20s. Cue the Principal Skinner meme. Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong!

I am Not Ok: I like the sentiment here, but I'm about Jelly Rolled out. He's not ok in his chevrolet on a lonely road with the Tulsa King. He's everywhere.

[kw9461]

"I Am Not Okay" is the first thing by Jelly Roll where i didn't think his vocal held the song back. His phrasing on the verses in particular, was quite good. I still don't quite get all the hype surrounding him, but he seems like a good dude, and I can get behind a solid song with a good message.

[.indulgecountry]

20. "Apartment" - Priscilla Block

Total: 250

Kris Kringle : 3
George Strait Junkie : 9
zaclord 🌈 : 9
tim : 12
🌺CountryLineDancer : 11
kluen : 12
kw9461 : 13
Darkest Hour : 14
.indulgecountry : 19
bboat11 : 21
nuggie99 : 21
LBTrocks : 25
wavey. : 26
castleoblivion26 : 26
SHOOTER : 29

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
Highway
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
The Man He Sees in Me
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
Wild Is Her Favorite Color
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Akin to HunterGirl, Priscilla Block also delivered the first true song that I've genuinely loved by her this month in the form of "Apartment," which ironically is cut from a similar cloth in terms of the turn-of-phrase hook. Not one for a standout vocal, Priscilla does her best here and the melody and lyric really pull a lot of weight here. Not everyone was as enthralled, and she squeaked out a #20 finish here, weighed down by six bottom 10s. OTOH, she landed quite a number of top-half ranks, including a pair of #9s and a #3 best from Kris Kringle.

[.indulgecountry]

19. "Highway" - Shaboozey

Total: 244

tim : 5
zaclord 🌈 : 5
SHOOTER : 10
Kris Kringle : 10
wavey. : 10
castleoblivion26 : 13
Darkest Hour : 13
nuggie99 : 15
🌺CountryLineDancer : 19
kluen : 20
bboat11 : 20
.indulgecountry : 21
kw9461 : 24
George Strait Junkie : 29
LBTrocks : 30

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
The Man He Sees in Me
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
Wild Is Her Favorite Color
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Shaboozey dominated the charts (and continues to) with his breakout smash "Bar Song" from earlier in the year, which managed to secure a top 10 finish back in April's set. He has to settle for a weaker placement with "Highway," which is looking poised to be his follow-up single as it's already amassed country radio adds to the tune of around 30 stations over the past few weeks. He clocked a pair of top 5s from tim and zaclord 🌈, and a trio of additional top 10s. OTOH, he landed in last place on LBTrocks list and the penultimate position on George Strait Junkie's.

[SHOOTER]

[.indulgecountry]

18. "The Man He Sees in Me" - Luke Combs

Total: 233

nuggie99 : 2
kw9461 : 4
castleoblivion26 : 5
tim : 6
Kris Kringle : 8
Darkest Hour : 12
bboat11 : 13
🌺CountryLineDancer : 14
kluen : 18
George Strait Junkie : 22
.indulgecountry : 24
zaclord 🌈 : 25
SHOOTER : 26
LBTrocks : 26
wavey. : 28

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
Wild Is Her Favorite Color
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

"The Man He Sees in Me" served as the first taste of Luke Combs' fatherhood side project. This is definitely the standout track on the set imo, but it just doesn't stack up in a big way to a lot of his classics from over the years, and I'm personally glad this era remained a side effort. He did manage to rack up five top 10s, including a #2 best from nuggie99. OTOH, he received six bottom 10s, indicating a pretty even split among the participants.

[.indulgecountry]

17. "Wild Is Her Favorite Color" - Jenna Paulette

Total: 232

kluen : 6
kw9461 : 8
George Strait Junkie : 10
Darkest Hour : 10
nuggie99 : 10
LBTrocks : 12
🌺CountryLineDancer : 13
tim : 14
.indulgecountry : 14
castleoblivion26 : 18
SHOOTER : 18
bboat11 : 23
zaclord 🌈 : 24
wavey. : 25
Kris Kringle : 27

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Come Rest Your Head
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

After a pair of #8 finishes for her last two pre-release tracks off Horseback, Jenna Paulette settles for a lower performance in the June set as "Wild Is Her Favorite Color" misses the top 15 by a 5-point margin. Her brand of neo-traditional country has gone over well so far in this series, but this month was particularly stacked. She only landed in four bottom 10s, but over half of us slotted "Wild" in our top half, with five top 10s, led by kluen's #6.

[nuggie99]

Apartment: All I could think of from listening to this one was the Joe Diffie song Startin' Over Blues:
Now I know what the word apartment means
Cause I'm apart from everything
That meant everything to me
Otherwise it's fine, shuffled to the lower middle.

Highway: This was ok. The opening guitar is a a lot like A Bar Song. I think this one will grow as I listen more but have only heard it a few time.

The Man He Sees in Me: I thought Luke's dad album was excellent. This was also great. Y'all though... Festivus is coming.

Wild Is Her Favorite Color: This tempo is just right for me. Very traditional. I like it.

[Darkest Hour]

Was trying to leave some comments earlier but was kinda busy and it's been a while since I listened to some of the songs so have to try to recall them.

30. Overused joke but cue that Bo Burnham country parody song. Also this feels quite unnecessary here.
29. Some of the most annoying choruses I have heard for a while. Also "I'm undressin' you in my head, my bed" is creepy af.
28. This is somewhat saved by having a female guest vocalist but I didn't think Ashley Cooke did anything remarkable here.
27. Robbed tbh. Though I think Pulse usually underranks unique male vocalists *shrugs*. Also imagine telling people that Dwight Yoakam will have collaborations with Annie Bosko and Post Malone this year.
26. Reminds me of the melody of If I Can't Have You from the Kaitlin Butts album but surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
25. Pleasantly surprised it's this low (thought it would be at least closer to the middle). At least Jessie Murph does not have terrible vocals here comparing to Wild Ones or especially Dirty (feat. Teddy Swims). It's more like I don't like the chorus melody.
24. Didn't expect this particular theme to be somewhat repeated in this rankdown, but at least the right one is out first.
23. Still don't really like her vocals and the pun feels like nothing because it doesn't really make a twist.
22. As generic as any other nu-disco songs with participation from Nile Rodgers nowadays (even though he didn't work on this)
21. Again pleasantly surprised this is low here because he definitely ran out of topic to sing about at this point.
20. Tbh found the pun to be very forced but it's quite okay aside from that.
19. Needs a more distinct melody with respect to the breakout hit, but this may help or hinder it on radio so we'll see.
18. Solid songwriting but the stripped down melody is not particularly strong. Still deserved top half here though.
17. A bit too focused on the word "Wild" in the chorus imo, but I don't think it's too different from some of the recent Miranda Lambert songs that usually end up high in this series.

[.indulgecountry]

16. "Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)" - Kaitlin Butts, Vince Gill

Total: 229

Kris Kringle : 1
Darkest Hour : 1
tim : 2
nuggie99 : 4
George Strait Junkie : 8
kluen : 11
bboat11 : 15
SHOOTER : 16
kw9461 : 21
zaclord 🌈 : 22
wavey. : 23
LBTrocks : 23
castleoblivion26 : 24
.indulgecountry : 28
🌺CountryLineDancer : 30

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Downfall
Down in Georgia
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Kaitlin Butts misses the top 15 by a mere 1-point margin. "Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)" has standout fiddle work and pleasant harmonies from Vince Gill, but the sleepiness of the song likely made it a bit polarizing here as she racked up mostly top 10s or bottom 10s, with few middling ranks. We see our first double #1 loss as both Kris Kringle and Darkest Hour had this at the top of their lists, plus additional top 5 losses from tim and nuggie99. OTOH, 🌺CountryLineDancer finally gets a break as he loses his last place rank.

[Darkest Hour]

Cleverly made pun with her boobs and it makes more sense in album context.

[.indulgecountry]

15. "Down in Georgia" - Josh Turner

Total: 228

nuggie99 : 3
LBTrocks : 5
George Strait Junkie : 7
castleoblivion26 : 9
kw9461 : 10
bboat11 : 11
.indulgecountry : 13
kluen : 15
Kris Kringle : 17
Darkest Hour : 19
zaclord 🌈 : 20
SHOOTER : 22
wavey. : 24
tim : 24
🌺CountryLineDancer : 29

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Downfall
Gettin' Back up to Heaven
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Josh Turner returned this year after a several-years long hiatus from new music, and after finishing at #12 in April's set with "Heatin' Things Up," he lands in similar territory with "Down in Georgia," sneaking into the top 15. He managed a quintet of top 10s, and several ranks in the teens beyond that. 🌺CountryLineDancer follows the loss of his #30 with his #29 rank, so he's on a good stretch currently.

[Darkest Hour]

On the other hand, overused Georgia peaches metaphor for butts here. Also the chorus sound a bit clunky to me.

[.indulgecountry]

14. "Gettin' Back up to Heaven" - Mae Estes

Total: 226

LBTrocks : 3
Darkest Hour : 5
George Strait Junkie : 6
.indulgecountry : 8
kw9461 : 12
Kris Kringle : 12
zaclord 🌈 : 14
castleoblivion26 : 15
kluen : 16
wavey. : 17
bboat11 : 19
tim : 23
SHOOTER : 23
nuggie99 : 25
🌺CountryLineDancer : 28

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Downfall
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Sad Girl Summer
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Mae Estes fared better in May with "What I Shoulda Done," but she delivered another bop in "Gettin' Back up to Heaven" and still makes the top half here. Four of us ranked her top 10, including a #3 best from LBTrocks. In keeping with the trend, 🌺CountryLineDancer has now lost his #28, lol.

[.indulgecountry]

13. "Sad Girl Summer" - Maddie & Tae

Total: 222

zaclord 🌈 : 7
SHOOTER : 8
LBTrocks : 9
castleoblivion26 : 12
bboat11 : 12
wavey. : 12
Kris Kringle : 14
Darkest Hour : 16
🌺CountryLineDancer : 16
kw9461 : 17
tim : 18
.indulgecountry : 18
kluen : 19
George Strait Junkie : 21
nuggie99 : 23

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
911
Downfall
The Hill
I Don't Wanna Dance
The Little Things
Man on the Moon
Oklahoma
Pour Me a Drink
Set My Heart on Fire
Truck on Fire
Unbroke
You Look Like You Love Me

[.indulgecountry]

Maddie & Tae essentially delivered "Bathroom Floor Pt. 2" this summer in "Sad Girl Summer." This uptempo girl power anthem landed comfortably in the middle of the pack, thanks to it not being a very polarizing cut. Nobody had this one in their top 5 or bottom 5, instead the majority opted to put it somewhere in the teens.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

I saw Kaitlyn Butts and Mae Estes' names several times on this series, but they are yet to impress me (also same with Dillon James). Kaitlyn is uninteresting, compared with others Texas figures like Kylie Frey or Jenna Paulette. 

"Down in Georgia" was one of the weakest from his album. Two Steppin On The Moon was fantastic tho. 

"Sad Girl Summer" has a good energy, but the melody is pretty rough. Hope they will take another shot at radio, but definitely need a stronger song.