Kelsea Ballerini -- The First Time | Album Reviews

 

Summer has just barely started for us college kids, and Kelsea Ballerini has already released the album of the summer. I find that on most "contemporary country" albums now-a-days, a lot of the songs sound alike. But "The First Time" is anything but ordinary.

Below you can find short reviews of my favorites (and trust me, it was hard to pick.)

XO -- Ballerini packs a punch with this opening track. As one of my most anticipated tracks on the album since I saw this video, "XO" is as catchy as it is clever.  Just in case you aren't sold on this track, check out the guitar solo: it'll definitely change your mind.

Square Pegs -- Country music needs more empowering females, and with this song, Ballerini definitely fits the bill. "Square Pegs" as a whole is such an interesting concept, and has catchy lyrics like "square pegs make the world go 'round" to match. Honestly, at this point, should we expect anything less? I don't know about you, but I'll be blasting this song all summer long.

Secondhand Smoke --  When the album came out, I bought this track before I bought the rest of the album so that I could listen to it while the other tracks were downloading. If that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what will. A tab with the link to this track on Soundcloud has been open for the past month. "Secondhand Smoke" was cowritten by one of my favorite songwriters, Jordyn Shellhart, and, combined with Kelsea, you get a beautiful song that even Kelsea can't sing without crying.

10. Stilettos -- I'm pretty quick to call Kelsea the Taylor Swift of the next generation, and these lyrics prove it. "I wear my pain like stilettos / as bad as it may hurt, no, you'll never know." Kelsea makes comparisons that aren't immediately thought of (except for maybe on Pinterest, where she became inspired to write this song). This was a no-brainer when condensing my "favorites on the album" list.

For more from Kelsea, visit her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelseaballerini