19 You + Me was the single that make us aware of Dan + Shay, and this duo follows on the success of Hunter Hayes, who became widely popular with his singles, good looks, and teenager love song.
Before you start reading, if you are in the exact target market of Dan + Shay, being girls from 10-16 who had something for the Jonas Brothers when they were actually popular, perhaps you should stop right now, and skip to the last paragraph of my review. I couldn't be further from their target market, and my reviews tend to be written from the "average new country fan" point of view. So if you are in their target market, you'll probably love that album. If you are not, well read on and laugh.
So first off, this was perhaps the worst album I've had the fortune of listening to in the last two years. Absolutely horrible. It took me 3 weeks to decide myself to make this review, as I genuinely didn't want to have to listen to all those songs another time. I hated that album. First of all, all songs talk about the exact same thing. Perhaps Dan + Shay should be praised for finding a way, I have no idea how, to write 12 entirely different songs telling exactly the same thing.. I have no idea how they did it, but they did. So if you like the "young love" theme, you are in for a treat. If not, prepare yourself to want to put a knife in your ears.
Then, most songs sound extremely alike. 19 You + Me is perhaps the outsider, as it is more complex then the rest of the pack, but otherwise, the album is extremely predictable. We get 2-3 slow songs, but to be honest, they aren't really great. We can already imagine all the teen girls with their iPhones singing along at the shows.
Now, I need to go ahead and mention one thing. Hunter Hayes offers 10 times the song quality as those guys feature. He can write about much more, covering all the problems that the young people can have, and his songs feature much more emotion in the singing than what Dan + Shay offer. Plus, I genuinely prefer the singing of Hunter Hayes. That's really the conclusion I get from this. I'll make a review on Hunter Hayes' album coming in next week (May 6th), and I'm expecting it to confirm all of this.
TLDR: If you are a girl, 12-16 years old, you might want to check out Hunter Hayes' upcoming album. It can't be worse than that Dan + Shay album. If you are not a girl between 12 and 16, don't even pay attention to Dan + Shay. They'll fade out quick enough.
4/10
Show You Off
Of all the songs that sound extremely alike, this one is perhaps one of the good ones, one that you'll remember out of this album. - 7/10
Stop Drop + Roll
I wasn't fan of the chorus of this song, sounds off to me. Another song of the album that isn't quite worth spending time listening to. - 3/10
19 You + Me
The instrumental arrangement of this song, and the build up at the beginning is perhaps the reason this song got so popular. Moreover, the lyrics are a bit more catchy than the rest of the songs. The singing is stellar as well. - 8.5/10
What You Do To Me
That song sounded pretty good to me. Again, the lyrics are nothing interesting to pay attention, but the rap-ish singing sounds different from the rest of the pack. - 7/10
Can't Say No
The downtempo aspect of this album, combined with the pretty enjoyable guitar makes this song good enough for me. That being said, the lyrics are again talking about the same god damn thing, which is insanely annoying for someone listening to the album from A to Z. - 7.5/10
First Time Feeling
Don't listen to this song. The number of lyrical references to "first love" make it borderline cringe-worthy. It offers the worst lyrics I've heard in a serious while. - 3/10
Nothin' Like You
This song sounds pretty good, and unlike the previous one, doesn't feature awful lyrics, which is nice. Sounds similar to the rest of the pack, of course, but it's still well done and quite enjoyable. 7.5/10
Somewhere Only We Know
This is an average song on this album. It's not catchy, but not annoying either, which is nice. - 6.5/10
Parking Brake
Not much to say on this song, not annoying, but not outstanding either. I'm getting the feeling that my ears are becoming - 6.5/10
I Heard Goodbye
I can already imagine the 14 years old girls at the shows with their iPhones in the air when this song will play. Anyhow, this is a pretty good song for the album, different from the rest of the pack, standing out. - 7/10
Party Girl
That song sounds pretty great in my opinion, but again, the lyrics are pretty bad. - 6/10
Close Your Eyes
I wasn't a fan of that slow song, I thought I Heard Goodbye, for example, was better. I guess at this point it's a matter of personal opinion of which song you dislike the less. - 6/10
19 You + Me (Acoustic)
If you were expecting a well crafted acoustic version of the song, well you might need to revise your expectations. This doesn't sound like it was studio-recorded, and just sounds like s*** to be honest. - 2/10
Show You Off (Acoustic)
While that song doesn't sound like it was studio-recorded either, I felt that the accoustic version was pretty good. - 7/10
First Time Feeling (Acoustic)
The original was cringe-worthy, and this song, while having lyrics that could have been written by finding all synonyms of "love" and "young" and randomizing them all together, sounds pretty good in acoustic version. - 7/10
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