Kelsea Ballerini - 'SUBJECT TO CHANGE'

[Darkest Hour]

1. SUBJECT TO CHANGE [Kelsea Ballerini, Karen Farenchild & Alysa Vanderheym]
2. THE LITTLE THINGS [Kelsea Ballerini, Cary Barlowe, Ashley Gorley & Alysa Vanderheym]
3. I CAN'T HELP MYSELF [Kelsea Ballerini, Julian Bunetta, Shane McAnally & Josh Osbourne]
4. IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOING DOWN TOO) [Kelsea Ballerini, Julian Bunetta & Shane McAnally]
5. LOVE IS A COWBOY [Jesse Frasure, Kelsea Ballerini & Parker Welling]
6. MUSCLE MEMORY [Kelsea Ballerini, Julian Bunetta & Shane McAnally]
7. I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN' [Kelsea Ballerini, Julian Bunetta, Miranda Glory, Shane McAnally, Jordyn Shellhart & Alysa Vanderheym]
8. WEATHER [Kelsea Ballerini & Alysa Vanderheym]
9. UNIVERSE [Kelsea Ballerini, Sasha Alex Sloan & Alysa Vanderheym]
10. WALK IN THE PARK [Kelsea Ballerini, Shane McAnally & Jimmy Robbins]
11. HEARTFIRST [Kelsea Ballerini, Karen Fairchild & Alysa Vanderheym]
12. YOU'RE DRUNK, GO HOME [Kelsea Ballerini, Julian Bunetta & Shane McAnally]
13. DOIN' MY BEST [Kelsea Ballerini & Alysa Vanderheym]
14. MARILYN [Kelsea Ballerini]
15. WHAT I HAVE [Kelsea Ballerini, Cary Barlowe & Alysa Vanderheym]



Focus track is MUSCLE MEMORY.

[mnvikings]

I can’t help myself is a total jam.

[kf1992]

Muscle Memory is the Roses/Needy on the album and should be a single!

[tim]

Sept 23, 2022 1:11:36 GMT -5 mnvikings said:

I can’t help myself is a total jam.

It's very Come on Over Shania Twain-esque. What's the song I'm thinking of..."Love Gets Me Every Time" for sure!

[zdm1998]

The Halsey shade on “Doin My Best” 🥴

[fearlessarrow]

Sept 23, 2022 3:45:49 GMT -5 tim said:

Sept 23, 2022 1:11:36 GMT -5 mnvikings said:

I can’t help myself is a total jam.

It's very Come on Over Shania Twain-esque. What's the song I'm thinking of..."Love Gets Me Every Time" for sure!

I immediately thought of Shania too! "I Can't Help Myself", "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)", and "You're Drunk, Go Home" might be some of the countriest things she's done and they're all jams!

Sept 23, 2022 5:56:06 GMT -5 zdm1998 said:

The Halsey shade on “Doin My Best” 🥴

I was surprised, I didn't realize they fell out at some point. But also I didn't realize who she was talking about when she mentioned the pop artist she had on track four and had to look it up, I had forgotten "the other girl" existed.

[austin]

Sept 23, 2022 3:45:49 GMT -5 tim said:

Sept 23, 2022 1:11:36 GMT -5 mnvikings said:

I can’t help myself is a total jam.

It's very Come on Over Shania Twain-esque. What's the song I'm thinking of..."Love Gets Me Every Time" for sure!

Definitely! Even has the Mutt-esque background vocals post-chorus. I think it's intentional, we know she looks to Shania as one of her biggest influences and the two of them are friends now.

[zdm1998]

About halfway through this and I'm loving it. Her songwriting is so good and especially shines on Marylin. Can't believe she wrote that masterpiece by herself.

[bigfan101]

This album is OUTSTANDING.

Where’s all the love for Weather?! Such a clever lyric.

[schnetzka]

Based on the comments above, I can see that I am in the minority here - I think the album is just okay. It doesn't really pick up as much as I was hoping and while I love when an album is consistent and cohesive, I feel like this one's a little bit too much of that. It's not a bad album by any means but it's not my favorite by her.

[bee]

I'm loving it so far. Love the song with Carly and Kelly.

[austin]

Sept 23, 2022 5:56:06 GMT -5 zdm1998 said:

The Halsey shade on “Doin My Best” 🥴

I didn’t realize they had a falling out, but this song might be my favorite on the record. I like how personal it is.

[austin]

Double posting but one thing I’m noticing through a few listens is there isn’t much that’s tailor-made for radio here. Maybe “Love is a Cowboy” (but that might be my least favorite here).

This isn’t a bad thing, I’m really enjoying this on first impression. Seems like she made the album she wanted to make.

[kf1992]

First of all, I’d like to say that I’m really happy that everyone seems to love the album and that Kelsea still is way too underrated.

But after five or six listens, I have to say that this is my least favourite album from her. Unapologetically is one of my all time favourite albums with only one song I dislike, and I really liked most of the Kelsea album and her debut, but something is missing on the new album imo. For me, the album is way too laid-back, missing that oomph in most of the songs and is especially not that instant melody-wise as her previous records.
I’m really missing songs like “Get Over Yourself”, “Roses”, “Love Me Like A Girl”, “Needy” or “Half Of My Hometown” on this album, which are all songs I fell in love with after the first listen.
Even though I called “Muscle Memory” the “Roses”/”Needy” on the album earlier, because I think it’s going to be the fan favourite, it’s still not as strong.

Plus, I had really high hopes for the Kelly x Carly collab, and even though I knew, it’s going to be a sassy song, I’d wish the collab would’ve been a song like “What He Didn’t Do” or “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” after all of them are/were going through divorce. Don’t get me wrong, they all sound great, but I’m sure, they would’ve sound even better on a heartbreaking song together. Also, “You’re Drunk, Go Home” is screaming for a bridge, where they all take turns on each line.

The only songs I will keep are Muscle Memory, I Guess They Call It Fallin’, Weather, Love Is A Cowboy and Heartfirst.

It’s really hard to tell which songs should be the next singles, but I would go with Muscle Memory, Love Is A Cowboy and The Little Things.

Will continue to listen to the whole album and I hope a few songs will grow on me, but I hope her next album is going to be a lot sadder with one or two big power ballads (which I always wanted from her) and a few more pop leaning bangers.

[bee]

My main complaint lately with Kelsea is most of the songs are too short. Some are under 3 minutes, a lot are near the 3 minute mark. It makes for quick songs and a quick album.

[mnvikings]

Sept 24, 2022 10:01:09 GMT -5 bee said:

My main complaint lately with Kelsea is most of the songs are too short. Some are under 3 minutes, a lot are near the 3 minute mark. It makes for quick songs and a quick album.

I think that’s a Nashville problem. I think radio stations like shorter songs so they can fit more in.

[soulfulwings]

I'm not feeling this album. All the songs are plain. The only songs that jump out at me are IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOING DOWN TOO), THE LITTLE THINGS, MUSCLE MEMORY and YOU'RE DRUNK, GO HOME. Disappointing after 3 strong albums.

[Musicfan32]

Damn this album, WEATHER, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, and I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN’ are so good! THE LITTLE THINGS has to be the next single?

[3chords]

How much longer do we think Heartfirst is gonna last?

[RoseColoredGirl]

Sept 25, 2022 16:10:05 GMT -5 Musicfan32 said:

Damn this album, WEATHER, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, and I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN’ are so good! THE LITTLE THINGS has to be the next single?

Honestly any of those you listed would be great singles IMO.

[.indulgecountry]

I'm a huge Kelsea fan and have loved her from the get-go, but I have to say this is EASILY the strongest project she's delivered to date. She had three fantastic albums prior to this one, but she really stepped it up for Subject to Change. I'm blown away. This is probably the best melding of country-pop on an a record since Shania Twain, so I'm glad to see some others see the similarities there as well. She really leaned into both ends of the spectrum of both "country" and "pop" equally on this record and knocked it out of the park on both, multiple times over. This record is perfection. I still need to let it sit with me over more listens to truly decipher all my favorites, because so far it'd probably be easier to name the 2 or 3 songs I'm not totally enthralled with, lol. She's spoiled for choice as far as future single options go, too. She has about like... 8 different tracks that I could see being #1 smashes. Rooting for this era to take her to the next level.

[hazmat]

Easily her most forgettable album to date. After three strong releases, I’m quite disappointed. There’s a couple tracks I’ll probably circle back to (You’re Drunk, Go Home, I Guess They Call it Fallin’ is catchy), but this record has the most filler tracks of any of hers for me.

I could do without Subject to Change, The Little Things, Heartfirst—all of which sound Radio Disney-esqe and could’ve been on her first record.

With 15 tracks, this record could’ve benefited from some editing and been a much stronger album had there been more focus on sounds like “I Can’t Help Myself”, “Love is a Cowboy”, “What I Have”, which is where she shines.

All in all, hope Kelsea eventually finds her own sound. It still seems she’s pining after the sound of her idols.

[Troublemaker]

As someone who hasn’t been a big fan of her albums, this is by far her best. She's definitely grown and it shows in her lyrics, the production is really good.
I went into this album with zero expectations and was blown away. Hopefully she has lots of success with this album.

[SHOOTER]

Yeah, this is definitely her best work; if Shania has a daughter in music, it's definitely Kelsea with this album. Hooks, melodies, and clever lyrics abound! I'm very curious to see what single choices they go with because there's plenty to choose from (Muscle Memory better be high on that list, too).

[Ernesto]

I love this album and I love how some of its songs remind me of Shania Twain's music. Kelsea is talented and I hope it does well for her. Quite curious about the choice for the second single, there are many potential hits on the album.

[stanches2318]

It feels good to be back. I like every song on here except “Marilyn” like I read up there, this album does make it sound like she’s matured well. This is her best album yet. I love it. Probably my second favorite album this so far.

[zdm1998]

Honestly kind of want them to pull Heartfirst in the near future. It doesn’t look like it’s testing the best, so will probably be a peak similar to Circles Around this town, if I was a cowboy, and Ghost Story.

I like Heartfirst, but some of these other songs are phenomenal. (Looking at If You Go Down and Muscle Memory.)

[Kanenrá:ke]

Absolutely loving this album! I keep trying to put single choices in my head and there’s so many!

Only track that isn’t fully clicking yet is “Universe”, it’s good but not as good as the rest.

“I Guess They Call It Falling” feels slightly out of place production wise as it leans more into the pop side than the rest of the tracks.

[14887fan]

I am really enjoying this record. I think it flows well, and I appreciate the steps she’s taken here to flex some artistry. I find the writing to be incredibly honest and concise, too. She has a knack for constructing one hell of a hook.

Not sure exactly what my top 3 are right now, but “Muscle Memory” is absolutely in there. What an earworm.

[3chords]

Projected sales 21,500 overall 14,200 pure via HITS.