Walker Hayes - Country Stuff The Album

Walker Hayes is a name I did not recognize until I noticed he was the "Fancy Like" guy. Knowing that alone set my standards 6 feet underground for Country Stuff The Album but honestly, I can say that this is not nearly as abhorrent as other pop country albums I've heard over the past couple years. It certainly is more listenable than the latest records from Sam Hunt or Florida Georgia Line, but that being said, that is not exactly much of an achievement and this is still very far from being good. Like Southside, this is produced much closer to a trap album than a country album, but Country Stuff even more so is way overproduced and unnatural. So yes, prepare for another pop country album with inappropriate uses of 808s and hip-hop influenced beats. I knew the lyrics were going to be bad going into this, but this was somehow even more consistently corny than I imagined, though I guess they have a somewhat endearing quality and aren't gross to listen to unlike that of Sam Hunt or Florida Georgia Line. I can recognize Walker Hayes as being better than those 2 artists all day, but that is about as much praise as I can give every aspect of this record, even though surpassing those 2 should be the barest of minimums. One thing I can say is that even with the lyrical content being so cheesy, the vocal performances are at least pretty good, and while it is not the most insufferable pop or bro country I've heard as of late, most of this was still God awful; as expensive as this record sounds, it truly is incredibly cheap at its core.

Favorite tracks: "AA"

Least favorite tracks: "Fancy Like"