Grammy-nominated country music artist Jason Aldean is back with his eleventh studio album, “GEORGIA”. Famous for his blend of country and southern rock, Aldean scored huge success with hits such as “Big Green Tractor” and “She’s Country” in the late 2000’s. Today, much in the vein of his counterparts Eric Church, Morgan Wallen and Cody Johnson, Aldean decided to release a double album.
“GEORGIA” serves as the second half of the double album that began with 2021’s “MACON.” I will only be focusing on “GEORGIA” on its own for this review, however. More specifically, I will be focusing on the first ten tracks, given that the final five songs are live versions of previously released hits.
Aldean, for better or worse, delivers exactly what you would expect from him here. Nearly every song has heavy inclusion of overdriven electric guitars, lyrics about drinking, breakups and mentions of Aldean’s self-proclaimed cowboy identity.
The standout song on the album is the final original song on the record, “Your Mama.” It’s an extremely heartfelt message to a son about how he should appreciate his mother and her presence in his life. It closes the original songs on this album really well. Its stripped-back, minimal production really lets the heartfelt lyrics be front and center. Although, I wish the production would have remained minimal (specifically not using snap tracks in the second half), this is a solid song.
“Holy Water” is the other highlight of the record. While nothing groundbreaking, it is a solid song. The lyrics are easily the most specific, creating some great imagery throughout the song. It has a great, nostalgic tone that is complemented with specific imagery such as ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, airbrushed t-shirts and Alabama shores.
Outside of the two previously mentioned songs, “GEORGIA” really blends together. The main problem with this album is that it’s very repetitive both lyrically and sonically. Everyone understands that breakup and drinking songs are country music staples. However, when quite literally half of the ten new songs present on the album consist of either drinking and/or breakup lyrics, it gets tiring. This is especially tiring when most of these songs (outside of “The State I’m In”) have no clever twist on these lyrical subjects.
I think the main problem with this album overall is the writing room. As I’ve mentioned before in previous music reviews, I believe albums are always best with small, consistent writing rooms. “GEORGIA” is the opposite of this. Many of these songs have many co-writers and a seemingly revolving door of writers when going from track to track. This creates very generic, less personal lyrics that overall feel very cliche.
I’m also still processing why Aldean and his producers thought that “Ain’t Enough Cowboy” was good enough to be released on a major label album. It is bafflingly inept. Where do I begin? The production sounds the farthest thing from something a cowboy would sing and/or listen to, including synthetic drums, snap tracks and an overall electronic feel to the song. The auto tune used on Aldean’s voice is also horrific. I’ve never heard anything like it from Aldean or anyone on country radio. His vocals on the chorus sound similar to the effects placed on someone such as Travis Scott, not a country musician. It’s easily the worst song that I’ve heard so far in 2022.
Overall, “GEORGIA” is aggressively mediocre, full of songs that blend together from both a lyrical and musical standpoint. The album has some moderately high highs with “Your Mama” and “Holy Water.” However, they are outdone with very low lows such as the baffling “Ain’t Enough Cowboy” and “My Weakness.”
5/10
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