Write You A Song is Jon Pardi's first album, and if you liked his first two singles, you'll most probably like this album a lot. 2014 will be filled with albums by other promising new artists, like Eric Paslay and Cole Swindell just to name those two, but I genuinely think that Jon Pardi proposes a very solid first album. There are many songs on this album that have the potential of becoming singles, so I think we'll hear a lot from him in the upcoming year.
We never know what exactly to expect from the first album of a country artist, but Jon Pardi really nailed it with this one. The album is pretty diverse, offers all kinds of different sounds and themes. We don't have much exploration though, in the sense that nothing in his album really strikes me by being very different from what we've seen. We are revolving around themes that are sometimes common, sometimes not. But overall, genuine effort was put in the song-writing, and I give Jon Pardi a lot of credit for this. Jon Pardi proposes only one song, Up All Night, that falls in the bro-country clichés, which is really impressive and ambitious. Jon Pardi makes the bet that the quality and fun-factor of his songs will allow them to hit the radio anyways. He really deserves respect for this.
I think the main problem that Jon Pardi will face is the lack of depth of his voice. The tone is very similar from song to song, and it can be easily mistaken for a lack of emotion. I think this will be the main thing to improve for a future album, because very promising songs received bad scores because of the lack of emotion in them, at least perceived emotion. That being said, the album remains extremely solid, and I'm genuinely impressed by it. As a final word, I'm making the bet that Trash A Hotel Room will one of his single for 2014. Who's in?
8.5/10
What I Can't Put Down
First song of the album, so we don't quite know what to expect. I was genuinely impressed by this song, it's well-written, as well as very enjoyable. The guitar is also very impressive and fits well in the song. I think it shows the depth we'll find in this album, and it's impressive for a new artist in my opinion. - 9/10
Up All Night
This was the second single of the album and probably the reason why you know Jon Pardi in the first place. Missin' You Crazy came in first, but it didn't chart as high. Anyways, as far as Up All Night is concerned, this is a very pleasant song, a total ear-worm. We are served on a silver plate all of the bro-country clichés, one after the other (truck, radio, blanket by the creek, beer, etc.), but I can genuinely understand the interest of such a song for a new country artist. At the end of the day, that's what sells. This song really grew on me since it first started playing. - 9/10
Write You A song
I really like this song, with the very fast tempo, it gives it a "honky tonk sound", which is always fun on an album. The violin solo fitted very well in the song as well. The lyrics aren't that impressive, but attention was put into them, at least. - 9/10
That Man
This is the first slow song of the album. I really liked this song, with this story of the guy falling in love with his best friend, and telling her that he's the man for her. Country artists often fall in the heartbreak story, or the old hometown story for slow song, so that's different. The guitar solo at the end didn't fit so much in the song in my opinion though. - 8.5/10
Missin' You Crazy
This was the first single of the album, and the first single of the artist at all. I find it to be quite great, I feel this is a really personal song for Jon Pardi, and reflects his own experience of leaving his love to go at the pursuit of his dream. I thought the song lacked a bit of emotion, which is surprising if it's really Jon's story. Overall I found it was a great song. - 8/10
Happens All The Time
Falling in love is a common theme in country songs, and it's exactly the subject Jon touches with this song. To be honest I was waiting for the song about this theme, you can't really find an album without it. I found this song to be good, but not great. I found it lacked emotion as well. That being said, it's very enjoyable from a musical sense. - 7.5/10
Trash A Motel Room
After listening to the album a couple of times, this really started to be my favourite song on the album. I don't know why, the theme is pretty dumb, but it just seems to sound right. To be honest, I think it's because it has surprisingly more emotion than other songs like Happens All The Time. I think Jon Pardi genuinely liked playing this song, and it shows. Like said, the story is pretty dumb, but it's still well-written. The guitar solo fits well in the song, and the tempo fitting with the lyrics is a nice touch given the whole theme of the song. - 8.5/10
Chasing Them Better Days
This song seems also to be really personal to Jon, and reflects his story of going forward with his dream of being a country artist. There is really emotion to this song, and it really improves it. I found the song to be repetitive. - 7/10
Love You From Here
And here comes the heartbreak song. The song seems to lack emotion, but it's not a genuinely bad song anyways. The song-writing is not to blame, but I think the combination of a fast rhythm with the lack of emotion just pushes the song to fall short. The violin solos fit pretty well though. - 7.5/10
Empty Beer Cans
Another heartbreak song! This one seemed to have more emotion, more harshness to it. I definitely prefered it to Love You From Here. That being said, we are still pretty far from the harshness and emotion of songs like Redneck Crazy by Tyler Farr. - 7.5/10
When I've Been Drinkin
I was expecting something better as the last song of the album to be honest. The song lacks emotion, is repetitive, and the music isn't as enjoyable as the rest of the album. Really, I have no idea why that was the last song of the album, leaves a bad taste to the mouth. - 6.5/10
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