Single Review: Laura Bell Bundy, “Two Step”

Laura-Bell-Bundy-Two-Step-2013-1200x1200Laura Bell Bundy made a distinctly memorable impression when she blew into Nashville fresh off Broadway four years ago.  Of all the major label country albums released in 2009, few were more polarizing than Bundy’s genre-bending Mercury Nashville release Achin’ and Shakin’.  Maybe you thought it was brilliant.  Maybe you thought it was atrocious.  But there was one thing that it definitely wasn’t – boring.

“Two Step” is boring.

It’s dull, repetitive, tasteless, and utterly forgettable.

The problem isn’t that it’s a pop song masquerading as a country song.  The problem is that nothing about the lyrics, construction, melody, or production feels clever or interesting in any way.  The song leans far too heavily on mundane repetitions of its unremarkable title, and with “Two Step” already floundering, a Colt Ford hick-rap bridge is not going to be the thing to save it.

I know she can do better than this because she has before.  Let’s just hope that Bundy’s future releases on her new Big Machine label home will focus a little less on choreography and a little more on content.

Written by Laura Bell Bundy, Andy Davis, Lance Kotara, Adam McInnis, and Bryan Ray

Grade:  D+

12 Comments

  1. To be fair the Colt Ford version was recorded back when she was still with Mercury and has been out for quite a while. It’s not a way to save a “floundering” single. In fact it’s the exact opposite cause in the Big Machine backed version they dropped Colt.

    Otherwise I agree with your review for the song*.

    *As a pop song I kinda love this.

  2. I agree! I bought “Achin’ and Shakin'” and loved it. It was different for sure, more a bluesy, soul country sound that was fresh. When I saw she had a new song out, I couldn’t wait to hear it and was totally disappointed. C’mon Laura Bell, you can do gobs better.

  3. I know where you’re coming from with the review, but this is not a song meant to be taken seriously. It appears on a line dancing compilation, and the song works perfectly for that. It’s not going to set the world on fire, but it’s harmless fun.

  4. Jordan, what I meant by that comment, flippant though it may have been, was that Ford’s contribution doesn’t redeem the already-weak record. I wasn’t inferring that Ford was added to the track in an effort to “save” it, either artistically or commercially.

  5. …guess you are not a line dancer or a die hard party animal, ben. here in switzerland, line dancing has become so big that it can lead to the rather grotesque situation that a country band can only get a good gig, if they have a decent variety of the top line dancing tunes in their catalog. dancing these days, ain’t “…whirlin’ someone round a hard wood floor…” as in the good ol’ two step times of tracy byrd anymore. it quite often is perfectly (with a vengeance) rehearsed choreography.

    there are sometimes commercial forces at work that do not meet the eye, may disturb the ear, but surely exist for better or worse. this one serves the dancing and party crowd and it does it quite well.

    laura bell bundy sings it rather well too – in such a context.

  6. Quote by CraigR:

    How can five people write one song so badly?

    I think it’s called “writing by committee”, where everyone wants to get their name on the credits for the purpose of a royalty check; and not only does it rarely ever result in a great song, more often it leads to one that’s either mediocre or just plain bad. This is just such an example (IMHO).

  7. CraigR, interesting note.
    I have noticed over the past 10 years that the more songwriters on a song the less inspired it tends to be. More often than not you can tell its written in a board room and not from real emotions. We might as well start having HR departments start writing songs.

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