The Singles Jukebox

Very emergency…

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[6.11]

Thomas Inskeep: It’s a cute trick to go from “Burning House” to a song about a sinking ship, but unfortunately “Mayday” is one of the weaker tracks on Cam’s superb Untamed, which was my favorite country album of 2015 (in spite of its December release). Much of the album rocks an emphatically ’80s country vibe akin to Rosanne Cash and Juice Newton at their hitmaking peaks. “Mayday” is a bit too understated for its own good, though, walking in place where it should run. Chalk it up as good-not-great and check out the album.
[5]

Crystal Leww: Who is picking Cam’s singles? Half of her album feels fresh and full of life and the other half of the album feels like Cam was kinda sleepy when she recorded it. The greatest irony of a song called “Mayday” is that it sounds like there is no emergency at all. 
[4]

Jonathan Bradley: After “Burning House,” Cam moves to the next crisis. She sets out with an arresting couplet — “You are overbearing; I’m not in love/But I don’t wanna tell you” — and as the toms roll in, it sounds like she might stir up a storm worth all the shipwreck imagery. Enlisting the elements in service of your emotional travails is a well-worn route for a reason, but unless it pays off with a bout of crashing catharsis, what’s the point? “Mayday” levels off about one minute in, making the impending doom and drama seem little more than a false alarm.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: If this were 1996, “Mayday” would be by Jewel and on mainstream radio; now it’s on country radio, the last home of the whole genre. The #adultpopemergency of the lyric is a teacup tempest — no one’s not letting her leave — and Cam’s voice is thin, though it does make for a nice trailing-off “may…” in the chorus, but I suppose it’s good someone plays this sort of thing.
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: I’m sympathetic with her attempt to meld folky country with electronic indieish pop — it certainly seems like the time would be ripe, given the very different rises of Taylor Swift and Sia — but neither hooks nor lyrics are strong enough to go much beyond the cult following that everyone gets these days.
[5]

Brad Shoup: It’s a soft struggle, befitting a narrator who cannot be heard. The drummer is restrained, keeping the toms far from a volume some other producer would deem rightful. Still, there’s a brightness to the arrangement that implies this is just a waystation. Cam adds voices to hers by the end; perhaps there’s escape.
[6]

Alfred Soto: She’s explicit: her heart’s torn in two because the sex isn’t working. As she sings the title hook, a bass drum pounds, an unveiled threat. Cam’s voice, often too genteel for my sake, is up to the sudden key and and psychological changes of her lyrics.
[6]

Anthony Easton: Best country single so far this year, resting on those sighs of exhaustion and resignation. The drums sound ominous but complex, with a layering of what might be flute. The metaphor might seem clumsy, but she manages to make it sound deeply convincing, like she wants to drown. Between this and “Burning House,” I wait for the next metaphor.
[10]

Megan Harrington: Like ABC’s once hallowed TGIF line-up or Hallmark at Christmastime, “Mayday” primarily serves to convince me a world that doesn’t exist — this world where you’re always free to express your sincerest emotions and those heartfelt gestures and pleas are met with reciprocity or, at least, kindness — does exist. Sure, Cam is on the brink of a break up, but listen to the way the gorgeous arrangement curls up around her. Listen to those wordless backing vocals, a whole village rallying behind her welling tears. I’ve never felt this comforted, but I want to, and until I am I have Cam’s promise that it’s real. 
[8]