http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/10/24/miranda-lamberts-new-song-fastest-girl-in-town-hear-at-here-exclusive/

What do you think of this track? Thanks!

But that’s the mainstream critical edifice for ya these days. Critics get invested and swept up by waves and stories just likes fans do, especially when they’re granted special access. There was a big New York Times article last year when one of their critics called out his peers for collectively fawning over Kanye West’s album, accusing them of rewarding Kanye with gushy praise for doing and being what critics consider fashionable and cool, which isn’t necessarily the same thing as making the best music.

It’s not just Kanye. There are other artists who’ve built a critic-friendly persona and they seem to get more positive treatment when critics hear their music. Critics know and remember more of their history and willingly plug holes on their own but they don’t make the same effort with other artists they don’t find as cool. I think Miranda falls into that category of somebody who music critics approach with rose colored filters. She’s earned that by making good music but I also think there’s a sentiment of needing/wanting her to be a significant artist because of what she represents that helps her.

But there’s others like Eric Church who have a tougher road to hoe after he got himself caught up in this outlaw nonsense. Read the mainstream reviews of Chief and there’s a whole lot of not getting it. My jaw dropped when the AP review of Eric’s album accused him of being too snarly and not having a sense of humor. But just watch: Eric’s next album will probably get better reviews than it deserves because after Chief it’s going to be cooler for critics to buy into Eric Church.

Not only do I have no problem with Miranda’s album cover, I think it’s her best yet. It’s perfect-glam-Southern-belle-meets-arsonist which also happens to sums up ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’. It’s detached calm meets deranged and it gets at what makes Miranda distinctive and appealing.

That being said, I’ve been disappointed by both of Miranda’s live performances of ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’. I’ll give her a pass on pitch since it’s always awkward performing new stuff live but I feel like Miranda’s version strips away a lot of the emotional layers that you get from Kacey Musgraves.

I don’t understand Miranda’s introduction to the song which defends mama knocking some sense into a girl going crazy after a breakup. I didn’t think that was what the song was really about. When you hear Kacey sing it, there’s a story of a mother that reminds me of the Norman Bates Mother persona. Mama brought up her daughter to repress all feelings, but the daughter’s feelings are finally bubbling forth in rebellion. The song’s as much about rebelling against mama’s emotionally abusive raising as a broken heart. I picture the girl singing this Chicago-style from behind bars, where you can’t help but sympathize with the crazy criminal because there’s a story there. Miranda’s performance doesn’t let you get inside the song and see anything but unexplained derangement. But just as with Baggage Claim I bet the studio version’ll be better than the live version.

I don’t understand this at all, and it just looks odd and out of place.

Oh, well. I don’t judge much from an album cover, and the album cover itself makes no impact on my opinion on the album itself, so I’ll still buy it and support her this era.