Single Review: Lauren Alaina, “Doin’ Fine”

“Doin’ Fine”
Lauren Alaina

Written by Lauren Alaina, busbee, and Emily Shackleton

You can be uptempo and inspirational without sounding like a dime store Katy Perry.

And hey, I like Katy Perry. She makes great pop records. But Lauren Alaina’s trying to make great country ones, and the loudness of the production drowns out a decent vocal performance and a surprisingly interesting storyline.  Writing about your parents getting divorced when you’re already an adult isn’t done too often – a “Starting Over Again” here, a “Separate Ways” there – so the perspective is fresh, even if it never quite lives up to a fantastic opening line: “Daddy got sober, Mama got his best friend.”

But whoever put this record together didn’t trust enough in Alaina’s storytelling or story writing skills, and felt the need to drive home the “I’m gonna be alright” message with noise, noise, noise.  What a shame.

Grade: B-

 

13 Comments

  1. I really love her voice and this is a very well written song. But this song feels like it was compromised for radio. In a quite production this could have truly been one of the all time Greatest singles released to radio. As it is this song is good but not great.

    I am feeling more generous so I think I’ll give this a B+ to a Broken. Probably the former more than later.

  2. …in parts a somewhat overproduced future radio hit by the slighly too eager production team around one of the vocally most gifted young singers/stars that the genre has seen in quite a while. fair enough, it’s shameless country flavoured pop, but rather well executed and really catchy. perfect for the target demographics this is aimed at.

  3. Agree about the noise. B- seems fair.
    Always liked Rick Trevino’s “Separate Ways” (Bill Anderson, Walter Wilson & James Yeary)

  4. It’s not a bad song. The chorus is overdone. I had a chance last night to listen closely to the lyrics last night. Instead of “nineteen” I think the song would be much more powerful if it came from a younger teen who’d naturally be a little more fragile in this situation. If “19” is changed to say “15” it becomes a more powerful message to teens: I’m getting through this and you will too.”

    B- is a fair grade.

  5. I think you’ve got it pegged correctly – I’d give it a C+ but it could easily have been much better. Pull off the electric guitars, replace them with acoustic guitars or mandolins and I think you’d have a winner

  6. I have to wonder whether the powers-that-be in Nashville, producers and record label chieftains alike, have any real confidence in the talent they have if their penchant for overproduction or wanting to cater to an audience of listeners that may not even be there keeps getting in the way, as it seem to have done with Lauren. Setting aside the issue of whether a song or a singer is “country” or “country-flavored pop”, a debate I think we can have until hell freezes over, the rule of thumb of every great singer is that the production should benefit the artist, and then it should get the hell out of that person’s way after that.

  7. Just look at the cover art for her songs. Like all artists, it tells the real tale. Hers has drastically changed over the years. She went from sweet country girl to a city girl. Same thing happened with Easton Corbin. “Eighteen Inches” was good stuff. But it didn’t sell well enough for Music Row.

  8. Hey CountryKnight why don’t you actually give your thoughts on the song itself instead of basing your opinion on an artist based on their image which is history wrong. No offense!

  9. Sorry if it came off that way CountryKnight. I meant no harm. I’m sorry if I came off as rude. Please don’t dislike me!

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