The short version: “Every Girl In This Town” is a fairly underwhelming return single from Trisha Yearwood.
- Writers: Erik Dylan, Connie Harrington, Caitlyn Smith
- Rating: 5/10
The long version: It’s good to have Trisha Yearwood back, especially when a ‘90s country revival has been a key 2019 theme. But I was hoping her big comeback single would give us more than … this.
Aside from releasing various side projects dipping in and out of country music, Yearwood has remained relatively quiet this past decade. Of course, this isn’t a new tale. While we’ve seen an increase in certain ‘90s artists releasing new music this year, there are several artists from that decade who haven’t released a proper studio album in at least 15 years.
Yet there was always hope that Yearwood would come back into the fold, despite how drastically the format has changed. After all, her powerhouse vocals lent themselves to some of the finest songs of the decade, and now that she’s released her first single to country radio in quite some time, the anticipation was even higher. Unfortunately, “Every Girl In This Town” just comes across as such a non-eventful song that I swore I’ve heard a dozen times by now.
At its core, “Every Girl In Town” is made to be an anthemic, sweeping song of optimism, but it comes across in such a boring manner. First of all, the production and instrumentation is about as predictable as could be for this type of song – a combination of electric guitars and steady drums that sound just spacious enough to drive the power groove and help establish the mood, and that’s before exploding during the chorus with keyboards for emphasis. There’s also a background choir toward the end to further give it some flavor. On one hand, there’s a bright, undeniable energy to the mix, but it’s just one of those songs that feels like it’s driving off of a predictable mix and melody.
Lyrically, I’m not sure if this song will really be anthemic to anyone. The first verse isn’t great, but it at least establishes an alright power anthem for women (it hints at chasing dreams, which is a good starting point). The closest example would be an updated version of Martina McBride’s “This One’s For The Girls,” and in terms of the production, it’s hard to escape the McBride comparisons as well. The problem is that the song doesn’t go far enough with its message. It especially becomes disjointed during the second verse when it shifts into a generic uplifting track telling women to just “keep your chin up,” in a nutshell. I realize I don’t exactly fall into the target demographic for this song, but regardless of who this song could have ended up being directed to, the verses are so light and short that it doesn’t have time to inspire anyone. Given that this song doesn’t even clock in at the three-minute mark, it’s not as if they couldn’t try to go further with their verses.
The fact that the lyricism is so disappointing is shocking given the songwriters involved. But when I think of Caitlyn Smith specifically, all I can think of is how this could have at least been an inferior version to her own “This Town Is Killing Me.” After all, the song is called “Every Girl In This Town,” and while there’s no character or texture given to any town in question here, the subtext could have at least drawn on the struggle for female artists trying to make it in modern country music. But the actual text fails to support that.
To give the song at least some credit, Yearwood sings the absolute hell out of it, sounding just as great, if not better, than she did in her prime. Even if I don’t ultimately buy what she’s selling, I certainly don’t doubt her commitment to the message, especially during the chorus.
Overall, “Every Girl In This Town” isn’t bad, but there’s hardly anything noteworthy about it aside from the vocal performance. Songs like “She’s In Love With The Boy,” “XXX’s and OOO’s,” and “Walkaway Joe” went for this sentiment a lot better. It’s better than a lot of material at country radio right now, and it is good to see Yearwood off to such a strong start, but I wish it was with a better song.
The Musical Divide 