Maddie and Tae are two young country music singers whose goals were to revolutionize the face of country music as most kids know it today with their new single “Girl in a Country Song”. It reached number one as a hit single off their first album “Start Here”and the country duo succeeded in making their satirical view of “Bro Country” widely known among the country industry. However, giving these girls the credit of “revolutionizing country music” is taking it a step too far.
While they make fun of their own genre in their number one hit single, there is still an entire album full of cliche and generic country songs on “Start Here”. Their next advertised single, “Fly”, is obviously marketed to be very uplifting, spiritual, and inspiring. Unfortunately, there’s nothing new there in the lyrics, melody or performance. “Fly” by Maddie and Tae can even be compared to the song “Fly” by Rihanna and Nicki Minaj… a pop song with the same lyrical message. Their song “Sierra” tries to be clever while singing a tale about a girl who puts others down. While the song has a good message, the actual sound of the country song and the overall mood of it is easily compared to old Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood. While these artists are obviously very influential and worthy of mention, to fall in their big footsteps does not make you revolutionary, it makes you a follower.
Maddie and Tae make the kind of music that you would want to only hear live at a concert in the middle of a big field. Maybe this is just bias for me because country music is not my music of choice, but I do not see anyone listening to the music to themselves in order to make themselves feel better if they are in a bad mood, and I cannot picture riding in the car with my windows down and blasting this music. If anything, you might listen to this in the background with friends. Music like this would be the best in live concert form, which is what country music seems to be known for. So maybe go see Maddie and Tae if they come to Stage AE or the PG Pavilion, but otherwise skip on the download.