The Singles Jukebox

It’s been almost exactly five years since we last covered her…

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[5.83]

Juana Giaimo: It must be really hard to sing all the cliché metaphors of this song and still sound passionate and genuine. 
[7]

Alfred Soto: Pointing out how a song fails to live up to its title is facile criticism. Yet. Okay, fine, but Martina McBride sang “Love’s the Only House” and “Independence Day.” In 2010 she released “Teenage Daughters.” We know she never sat on fences.
[4]

Anthony Easton: McBride has one of the great pure voices in the history of country, and she knows how to use it. I am not sure that she has gone full diva, meltdown, imperial stage, for all of her skill at the melodramatic pause and the reach-for-the stars, un-throttled voice. The juxtaposition between a song so controlled and the lyrical content about the dissolution of self is so oppressive, it comes very close.  
[8]

Brad Shoup: With its portrait of unfathomable grace — whisked with banjo swipes and Edge-style guitar — McBride’s ended up with a real nice modern worship song.
[5]

Cassy Gress: Strange. The entire theme of the song is about someone saving her from her own self-destructiveness, but if I ignore the lyrics and just listen to what the song sounds like, I hear a redemptive love song, and not any inkling of the self-destructiveness. Listen to how tight her vowels are, especially on “out of control, so criminal.”  It would make sense, I guess, if this song is supposed to take place after she’s been redeemed, but she explicitly says it’s not: “I know I’m reckless, you must be reckless too.” I don’t need this to sound necessarily like she’s singing it hungover on the kitchen floor, but something about this is too tidy.
[5]

Crystal Leww: I’m impressed by how much legacy country women artists have done to try to update the sound in the last few years. “Reckless” still sounds a little bit old fashioned, but this is uptempo, and that tin guitar is a surprisingly cute touch. McBride can still sing and emote and still makes you feel. As far as legacy country artist singles go, this is less good than “Going Out Like That” but way better than anything Tim McGraw’s done in years. 
[6]