The Singles Jukebox

Went a little heavy on the Squeez, did ya there, Mitchell…

[Video]
[3.57]

Anthony Easton: Country is a set of ongoing repetitions of tradition, so it is mostly about how well they use cliches, instead of the fact they use cliches at all. Novelty is overrated. This is an excellent example of how that might be true — every line, and every line as it has been delivered, has been done with more wryness, or more yearning heartbreak, or more ironic remove, or any suggestion that he knows what he is saying, or at least he believes it. 
[4]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The way this grows into a series of accented cymbal crashes and guitar strums — as if to model Mitchell Tenpenny’s drunken stumbling — is impressive. Not sure what else the song has going for it though.
[5]

Crystal Leww: You can hate Sam Hunt’s persona and influence on country music, but at least you can admit that Sam Hunt never wrote something as sloppy and un-banging as this. 
[4]

Ramzi Awn: In somebody else’s hands, “Drunk Me” would fall flat on its face, but Mitchell Tenpenny and his production team make the most of well-placed harmonies, anthem acoustics and heart to propel this power ballad over the arena ceiling. 
[6]

Stephen Eisermann: A bad, modern, barely-country “Man in the Mirror” dipped in alcoholism, except “Drunk Me” tries to make up for the lack of personality by being overproduced. Much like a six pack doesn’t give you a personality, neither do electric guitar licks and synths in the background of faux-country tracks. 
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: The finest, or at least the biggest, megachurch/Matchbox 20 “Unwell” country-stuff, deployed to call a girl a hangover.
[2]

Alfred Soto: That’s not his name, is it? It can’t be. At any rate, this isn’t a song — it’s a series of incoherences held together by spit ‘n’ syrup. Has Mitch ever had a hangover? If so, he wouldn’t want them to linger. 
[1]