The Singles Jukebox

From The Voice to the coveted all-negative Critical Reception section on Wikipedia…

[Video][Website]
[5.00]

Thomas Inskeep: Remember about a decade ago, just after Big & Rich’s initial splash, when they tried to make “hick hop” happen? It didn’t, chiefly because most of it wasn’t very good, save for B&R themselves. Also, they were clearly ahead of their time, as early adopters often are. Now hip-hop has a real influence on contemporary country, such as Sam Hunt’s Conway Twitty-esque rapping or the increased rhythmic emphasis in bro-country in particular. “Friend Zone” is a fine case in point, mixing a twangy steel guitar with some electric guitar riffs, a beat that would be considered hip-hop if it were played on an 808, and a chorus that’s entirely rapped — not to mention a bridge where she sings “a bass and a beat and a banjo.” She knows what she’s doing here. Bradbery shows plenty of personality, advising a guy that while he thinks he’s “flyin’ towards the end zone,” he’s really “headed towards the friend zone,” and who wants that? This is catchy, fun as hell, and deserves to be a big hit.
[7]

Alfred Soto: The conceit is fresh, but the metaphors and singing have the prion disease detected in Country Music Award veterans.
[4]

Will Adams: The end zone/friend zone rhyme would have won me over if Bradbery hadn’t mixed metaphors (“you gotta step up to the plate with a bat”; hyuk hyuk). Her rapping isn’t so much Kesha as it is Danity Kane, which helps to explain the bizarre posturing going on throughout.
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: Anything with that dorky-sassy spoken-word “let me break it down to the facts” bridge would have gotten above a [5], because the dorky-sassy early 2000s are still a great thing to imitate, but dignifying the concept of the friend zone with all the blithe confirmation of misogynists’ worst fears is the only fuck-you that matters.
[7]

Juana Giaimo: “Friend Zone” is disguised as a feminist song but it only perpetuates the basic stereotypes: women want men to spend money on them, are demanding and get mad if the martyrized men don’t do what they want. “That’s all I gotta say about that,” Danielle Bradbery sings, but believe me, I’m glad she didn’t have more to say.
[4]

Brad Shoup: Bradbery’s not bathing in #maletears, not quite: the track is aimed at a buddy who just needs some friendly advice, even if that advice boils down to “don’t be cheap”. Anything stronger and country radio would revolt. As for the musical approach, it’s the sound of someone who was told about the Ke$ha/Yeast Infection show.
[5]

Anthony Easton: Her voice is so thin, and the production is like Lego without the plastic sheen.
[2]

Katherine St Asaph: Country’s idea of pop, with scattered exceptions, is stuck in the early 2000s, and “Friend Zone” is practically a TRL-era DJ Earworm mashup: Dann Huff, one of Colbie Caillat’s writers and Shari Short, who’s promising, combine trap snares, Danity Kane snaps and cadence, Dream melodies and youthfulness, and a conceit right out of the zeitgeist (complainers will note Short is a woman) delivered with Pink attitude. The metaphor doesn’t mesh — Coach Z might as well have written it — but everything else does. Pop isn’t making this kind of music anymore; someone’s got to.
[7]