recordyear
Diamond Member
album listener
Joined: January 2017
Posts: 15,605 
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Post by recordyear on Sept 3, 2020 23:14:57 GMT -5
 1. Run 2. If I Was A Beer 3. Bar Back 4. Getting Over Him (Duet With Jon Pardi) 5. Seen You In Your Hometown 6. What Do You Think Of (Duet With Lukas Graham) |
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bigd79
Gold Member
Joined: February 2019
Posts: 836
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Post by bigd79 on Sept 4, 2020 11:06:33 GMT -5
Sure wish she would release a full album, but i guess if you combine the 2 eps it pretty much is. Im just old school and want a physical full album though. If only radio didnt treat her like dirt this probably would have been a full length album. I may just buy the 2 eps together and burn them all together, we’ll see. I would rather not but i may make an exception for her since we really don’t know if she will get to release a full length project again.
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lipe
Charting
Joined: February 2018
Posts: 368
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Post by lipe on Sept 4, 2020 11:11:13 GMT -5
This is so good. It's some of her best work.
"What Do You Think Of?" is on repeat.
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Troublemaker
4x Platinum Member
Tasteless Heaux
Joined: October 2014
Posts: 4,882
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Post by Troublemaker on Sept 4, 2020 11:56:12 GMT -5
Sure wish she would release a full album, but i guess if you combine the 2 eps it pretty much is. Im just old school and want a physical full album though. If only radio didnt treat her like dirt this probably would have been a full length album. I may just buy the 2 eps together and burn them all together, we’ll see. I would rather not but i may make an exception for her since we really don’t know if she will get to release a full length project again. This is exactly how I feel. I will have to listen to the first EP now cos I was waiting for a full album but that might not happen anytime soon. |
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Sept 4, 2020 15:03:50 GMT -5
This EP is fantastic. Better than the Getting Good one overall. The duets both really shine -- if there's one thing she's proven at this point, it's that she is a perfect duet partner for literally anyone -- especially the title cut with Pardi, which I've got my fingers crossed gets the greenlight to be her next single because I think it's the smash she needs right now. "If I Was a Beer" and "Bar Back" are also fantastic. Love the hook of the latter, which was exactly how I anticipated the phrase would be utilized when I first saw the way it was titled.
If the Pardi duet isn't her next single for whatever reason, then I hope they go with "If I Was a Beer" because I could see that maybe doing something for her. Sadly, I don't see hit potential in the other 4 options, especially knowing how iffy country radio has been with her historically.
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James
Charting
Joined: February 2016
Posts: 109
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Post by James on Sept 4, 2020 16:42:39 GMT -5
Sure wish she would release a full album, but i guess if you combine the 2 eps it pretty much is. Im just old school and want a physical full album though. If only radio didnt treat her like dirt this probably would have been a full length album. I may just buy the 2 eps together and burn them all together, we’ll see. I would rather not but i may make an exception for her since we really don’t know if she will get to release a full length project again. I know it's not quite the same as a full album with liner notes and such but the two EPs are available to buy on CD from UMG Nashville's site, Target, probably her merch site and other retailers too. They're both in cardboard sleeves. UMG did the same thing with Maddie and Tae - both EPs were available to buy on CD and they ultimately released a physical album too. Maybe that'll happen here. What I find interesting is there's no sign of a physical copy/CD for Mickey Guyton's upcoming Bridges EP.  |
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Sept 5, 2020 7:09:17 GMT -5
Sure wish she would release a full album, but i guess if you combine the 2 eps it pretty much is. Im just old school and want a physical full album though. If only radio didnt treat her like dirt this probably would have been a full length album. I may just buy the 2 eps together and burn them all together, we’ll see. I would rather not but i may make an exception for her since we really don’t know if she will get to release a full length project again. I know it's not quite the same as a full album with liner notes and such but the two EPs are available to buy on CD from UMG Nashville's site, Target, probably her merch site and other retailers too. They're both in cardboard sleeves. UMG did the same thing with Maddie and Tae - both EPs were available to buy on CD and they ultimately released a physical album too. Maybe that'll happen here. What I find interesting is there's no sign of a physical copy/CD for Mickey Guyton's upcoming Bridges EP. I had no idea that Lauren's two EP's were available in physical form, I'll have to buy them ESPECIALLY for "The Other Side" which is probably one of my favorite songs from her ever. Hopefully Mickey Guyton's EP gets a physical copy by the time it is released, cause that would be a must buy as well! |
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jab820
Platinum Member
Joined: December 2017
Posts: 1,122
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Post by jab820 on Sept 5, 2020 13:19:38 GMT -5
I have a lot of thoughts about this EP. It really is fantastic!
The first is that the two EPs really do feel like distinctly separate sets of music. If you swapped "Run" on this EP with "Somebody Else's Problem" on the other, they would be completely distinct in content. Total, we have 12 songs here, which is the same length as the previous two albums... so I suppose we have an album? However I was listening to an interview with her recently and she was talking about how her and her team were contemplating whether to wait to release a full album or to release another EP. She opted to put out this EP as she is seeing the way people are consuming music differently during the pandemic. So, maybe we will actually get a full album in the end of this. At that point though it would probably be an 18 song album.. if that's the case I'd say she should cut out a handful of EP songs to make room for new ones (similar to how HARDY has a couple songs from Hixtape on his new album but not all of them).
The second is that I am having a hard time deciphering which songs are about John Crist and which are about her previous fiancee. They seem to mostly be about John but I could see Hometown or WDYTO being about the other guy. If anyone else has insight on this I'd be curious to see what you think. She's made it clear in interviews that this is her first body of music that discusses her "two very public breakups".
Now for the actual album... "What Do You Think Of" is a smash. How does this get promoted? To what? They sound unbelievable and it sounds like a duet that could become a classic. (I actually wish this song wasn't a duet, Lauren sounds amazing. But Lukas Graham doesn't hurt it.)
"Getting Over Him" is the clear radio hit if there is one. I wish "Run" would stop getting all this promo... It's nice, it's catchy, and it would work for her if she wasn't... her. Lauren Alaina has been snubbed by radio for so long and something like the Jon Pardi duet is something they can't ignore, while "Run" totally is.
The production of "Bar Back" is super interesting to me. I listened to this EP right after listening to HARDY's album and both this song and "BOYFRIEND" employ this interesting synthetic beat that I really like and have been noticing pop up in more country songs recently. I love the talk-sing part in the chorus. This song in particular sounds ahead of its time in a really cool way.
"If I Was A Beer" something I need to hear live at a concert like now. It has a groove and attitude to it (similar to "Somebody Else's Problem") that we don't often see from her. "Seen You In Your Hometown" is a personal favorite from the 2020 LA EP catalog... not necessarily something I want to see promoted, but a perspective I really like and it just sounds good.
I hope this EP does well enough for her to release a full project, whatever that looks like. Unlike the first EP, this one has no singles on it and I wonder how it will fare commercially because of it. Not that it totally matters... It is an EP after all. Huge LA fan and holding on hope she can earn herself another hit.
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sapphire
Gold Member
Joined: July 2013
Posts: 559 
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Post by sapphire on Sept 5, 2020 23:03:47 GMT -5
The duet with Lukas Graham is my favorite on this EP, however I don't think that should be chosen as a single. I can see the Pardi duet doing better on the radio, or even If I Was A Beer. Overall, I like the songs on the EP for my own consumption but generally do not scream radio single hit to me. Also, I'm not a fan of the album cover.
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tryexp
Gold Member
Joined: December 2015
Posts: 871
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Post by tryexp on Sept 6, 2020 5:53:29 GMT -5
I quite like this, Seen You in Your Hometown and Bar Back are great, and I think the Jon Pardi duet has a lot of potential as a single. Her voice is great on all of this, and I must be in the minority because the Lukas Graham duet is the one I like the least really. I hope she can get some success with this EP because it certainly deserves it!
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Sept 8, 2020 23:53:55 GMT -5
Also, I'm not a fan of the album cover. It's wild how they've managed to make the girl look a good 10-15 years older than her actual age on just about every album cover she's done. She needs a new styling team or something because she looks like she's about 45 years old on this one.  |
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jab820
Platinum Member
Joined: December 2017
Posts: 1,122
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Post by jab820 on Sept 12, 2020 14:30:22 GMT -5
Stream counts on Spotify one week in:
"Run" - 2,416,000 (Promo single for 1 month, also on Hot Country)
"If I Was A Beer" - 78,000
"Bar Back" - 96,000
"Getting Over Him" - 769,000 (Promo single for 2 weeks)
"Seen You In Your Hometown" - 106,000
"What Do You Think Of?" - 530,000
The organic interest in "What Do You Think Of?" tells me they need to push this to Pop or something immediately. I would hope her team is not blind to it, but I also know they are often blind to obvious good choices for Lauren's career.
It's interesting to see "Seen You In Your Hometown" rise as one of the organic leaders of the EP. Typically songs that fall later in an EP/album order-wise, and aren't the last song, are not as popular among listeners. ("a country song" by Kelsea is the second to last song and it's the only one yet to break 1M, for example).
It does seem like this EP is performing better than the first one which is interesting as it has no radio singles on it while the last one had two. I suppose we'll find out on Monday!
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Sept 13, 2020 14:04:21 GMT -5
Yeah, her next single needs to be one of the duets, 100%. I've been a believer in the Jon Pardi duet from the beginning because not only is it a total jam but radio loves him, so that would give her instantly more hype for a new single than anything she could ever put out on her own. That said, I'm also really impressed with how well "What Do You Think Of?" has been received out of the gate. It's not a safe choice by any means, but it could potentially be one of those 'big risk, big reward' releases because it is obviously connecting in a big way and there's also crossover potential with that one. If something like "Run" is pushed instead, then I'll be convinced her team has no idea how to pick singles... especially when so many other things are so on-point with her (like being able to land guest spots on everyone else's albums constantly).
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