I remember there was a time I used to like RaeLynn. I remember getting weirdly attached to her 2017 album 'WildHorse', which is weird to think about seeing as that was coming from the songwriter who a few years prior wrote 'God Made Girls', one of the worst country songs I've ever heard (also it was co-written by Liz Rose and Lori McKenna which just makes me really sad). But it was clear that RaeLynn had matured considerably, with songs like 'Love Triangle' and 'Lonely Call' proving their is a talented songwriter hiding somewhere in there, and after a label change to Florida Georgia Line's imprint I was hoping to see her improve once again.
Let's just say that didn't happen on this new EP 'Baytown'. In fact, 'Baytown' is a backslide for RaeLynn in every way: production, songwriting, everything. I get I'm clearly not in the target audience for this kind of girlish party album, but I wasn't in the target audience for 'WildHorse' and I liked that album, mainly because the songwriting was more introspective and interesting. What 'Baytown' represents is a watering down of an already tired formula, only made worse by bad production and RaeLynn's vocal delivery, clearly convinced she has a lot more charisma than she actually does, why else would she try the horrible talk/rap delivery on 'Judgin To Jesus', the same song where she calls herself a 'little Cardi B'. Uhhhh… NO!
And that's not the only cringe inducing song lyrically on this album. 'Bra Off' is trying to be a female empowerment break up anthem, but without any unique lyrical detail about how it all fell apart, I find it hard to get invested in the song. We find out that she doesn't like being called 'babe' by this guy, and they don't like kissing, but that's it. There's no evidence that he was 'suffocating' her in the way that she describes on the hook of the track, especially when RaeLynn says herself on the second verse that she thinks he's a nice guy.
It's unfortunate that while so many of these songs seem fine enough on the surface, the moment you dig into the lyrics that smug attitude that has never shown itself in RaeLynn's work before begins to rear its ugly head. 'Keep Up' is another example of this. It's fine until you realise that it's just another bro-country song that we've all heard dozens of times if we're familiar with the genre, apart from it's shine through a feminine perspective that adds nothing. Also the whole bro-country trend died years ago so the song already sounds dated as hell with the overproduced racket passing as music.
In fact, that might as well be the story of the production on an overwhelming majority of the songs here. A lot of twangy pop country production with just enough texture and melody to almost distract you from how thin, fake and flimsy the percussion sounds. Take a track like 'Still Smokin', a song clearly going for a smokey slow burn vibe, but it doesn't come close to working. The production is far to plastic for it to effectively vibe to.
There are two songs that do come close to working. The first of which is the ghostly and atmospheric 'Fake Girl Town', where she's wondering where all the 'real girls' are as she's surrounded by people who seem fake, as if implying that she's somehow one of the 'real ones', which considering how fake, corporate and overproduced your EP sounds, I kind of doubt that. But the other one is the genuinely good song 'Me About Me', where she can answer any question about her boyfriend, but he can't do the same for her because he never gave herself an opportunity to express herself. And, by the end of the song, she does take charge of the situation and walk out the door. I find that way more empowering than anything of the dumb party tracks RaeLynn brings to the table across the rest of this EP.
'Baytown' is an EP where you get glimpses of the talented songwriter that I liked on 'WildHorse', but little more than that. I get that this is just pop country with a very limited purpose, but there is better pop country out there than this. Skip it.
2 / 5
Best Songs: 'Fake Girl Town', 'Me About Me'
Worst Songs: 'Judgin To Jesus'
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