The Singles Jukebox

Country-Duets-With-Non-Country-Artists Monday limps on…

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[5.55]

Brad Shoup: I wanted this review just to be the Google results for “Brad Paisley age” and “Demi Lovato age”… maybe I’d place “The way we love, it don’t seem right” before the pics. We can set that aside though; the real mismatch is that Lovato can get mad and Brad can’t, really. Not vocally, and not through his six-string. There’s a little simmer in the Fleetwood Mac passage that bookends the cut, but it doesn’t really make its way to the principals.
[5]

Thomas Inskeep: I like Lovato a lot, but can’t hear this without thinking that Paisley’s former duet partner Carrie Underwood would be a better fit here (c.f. “Remind Me“), especially since their previous collab was a trip to a similar well, lyrically speaking. Plus Underwood’s voice just matches Paisley’s rich tones better; unfortunately, Lovato comes off a little bit screechy. That said, Paisley does sex songs well, and the guitars are of course impeccable. “Without a Fight” is a well-written, well-sung song that might’ve been better served by a better match of a duet partner. So call it a solid double. 
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: Demi Lovato is a talented vocalist: she’s been steamy in “Cool for the Summer,” disconsolate in “Don’t Forget,” and pushed past breaking point on any of her songs with “heart” in the title. She fails, however, to invest “Without a Fight” with any personality or motivation at all, leaving the emotional narrative entirely to Brad Paisley. Paisley can do songs about fussin’-and-fightin’ couples — see his “Remind Me” with Carrie Underwood — but he can’t carry this one alone; he’s an unexpectedly thoughtful backwoods boy, not someone to deliver grand relationship statements. What’s left is a very slick barroom guitar lick and a good story with the wrong actors in the lead roles.
[5]

Katie Gill: The more I listen to this, the more I find myself loving it. Brad Paisley’s a rare type this day: a country artist who stands out. The lead single of any Paisley album is going to be fun, catchy, and distinct from the interchangeable sea of cowboy hats that country music tends towards today. He can take a formulaic song, and through sheer determinism and charisma, push it into something great. Add in Demi Lovato with her surprisingly good country chops, and you’ve at least got something slightly different and something that has literally been stuck in my head for the last week.
[9]

Katherine St Asaph: Why is Demi mixed so low? If anyone in pop is capable of country-vocal pageantry, she is, and isn’t the point of putting her on a country song to draw in the sort of fans who probably want to, y’know, hear her? Also, no one on this song believes the lyric is “fuss.” (Demi doesn’t even pretend by verse two.) That said, there are worse things than a beefy Southern-rock take on “That’s Why I Wanna Fight.”
[6]

Juana Giaimo: It may be a rather simple and conventional country song, but Demi Lovato sounds amazing. While she is many times criticized for not knowing how to control her voice, this time she knew how to give a space to Brad Paisley — her rather quiet backing vocals in the first half of the song reinforces and sweetens his vocals. She gradually starts growing until she finds a moment to shine and does what she knows how to do best. 
[7]

Taylor Alatorre: With her showboating kept within tasteful limits, Demi’s vocals are an unobtrusive presence here, but crucially, so are Paisley’s. Instead it’s the guitars that take center stage, casually alternating between honking tailgate rock and the more haunting elements of “The Boys of Summer.” The refusal to tone down the country is a wise choice, as this accommodates Demi more smoothly than if they had stuck her with a contrived crossover attempt. Not nearly the mess it could have been, though given the subject matter, it could stand to be a tad bit more messy.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Forget the other name in the credits for a moment. The opening riff and prechorus are closer to .38 Special or George Thorogood than the references in “This is Country Music,” and for the first time in years I hear not a note of complacency in Paisley’s singing. As for that other name in the credits, she wants a fight with the make-ups, no matter what Paisley says, which presents a tension neither Paisley nor the song are willing to solve. So he farms out the tension to his closing solo and riffage — a complacent move after all.
[7]

Anthony Easton: From “Ticks” onward, I have found Paisley sexless with a kind of winking patriarchal quality. I never believed that he could fuck, and his songs about domesticity had a sheen of Midwestern contempt for women. The guitar was always solid, though. This has that solid guitar, but that this is sung with someone 20 years his junior and that I just cannot believe any word he is saying makes the whole thing slightly sickly. I also cannot tell the difference between chorus and verse, the storytelling is absent, and the bridges sort of float into meaningless. I keep forgetting what I used to love about him. 
[2]

David Moore: Misheard a line in the first verse as “sometimes I think we hurt each other just because I’m wearing a leash,” and some delightfully twisted opportunities briefly surfaced, only to be squashed with a limp assertion that they’re “good at gettin’ it on.” Meanwhile, who knew I wanted a country duet of Fred Armisen’s “Sex Song” from Bob’s Burgers?
[4]

Cassy Gress: The song is inoffensive enough; I wouldn’t seek it out but I’d probably tap my toe to it over the PA at a Longhorn Steakhouse, particularly because the guitar parts keep reminding me of “That’s All.” The weird part to listen to is Brad’s twang against Demi’s not-twang; I originally thought, “Well, maybe she just can’t do a twang,” but she grew up in Dallas so chances are good she can. Their voices aren’t perfectly in sync either, and not just because of that; it’s not inherently a bad thing, but it makes it sound a little less polished.
[4]