Single Review: McKenna Faith, “Somethin’ Somethin'”

McKenna Faith Somethin Somethin

“Somethin’ Somethin'”
McKenna Faith

Written by McKenna Faith, Caleb Sherman, and Monique Staffile

You forgot to finish the song.

But I’ll still finish the review.

Clunky. Juvenile. Noisy.

Lots of songs run out of ideas by the end of the first verse, but this one actually ran out of words.

The chorus sounds like a songwriter does when they’re working on something and they’ve got the melody down but not the words yet.

It’s essentially a work tape trying to pass itself off as a single.

My recommendation is to skip McKenna Faith for now, and just stick to Faith singing McKenna.

Grade: F

23 Comments

  1. Well, it sure didn’t take long for the first Kelsea Ballerini knock-off to turn up… Still, maybe they should have waited a bit longer to finish writing a complete chorus and to run her off-pitch vocals through another cycle of ProTools. I mean, she isn’t even close to hitting that last attempt at a big note in tune.

    This is dreadful, but somehow it’s still better than Haley Georgia’s “Ridiculous.” Because we just keep scraping thinner and thinner layers off the bottom of the barrel.

  2. I give it a D, just because the production is actually a little swampy and catchy. Otherwise, completely worthless.

  3. Ouch. I can’t stand the Kelsea Ballerini song, but this definitely qualifies as worse. Sigh. Fortunately (?), something will soon come out that by comparison will make this song sound better. Take heart, it really CAN get worse!

    On another note, is a Kacey Musgraves album review in the works? It would be cool to see everyone’s thoughts on that whether good/bad.

  4. Unfortunately, this type of song will be the backlash from SaladGate and the mainstream’s answer to the criticism. Even at its nadir, Bro-Country is a thousand times better than this mess. We are asking for more women and they are giving us girls.

  5. Hence why this fixation on playing ANY female artist on country radio is a recipe for across-the-board mediocrity waiting to happen.

    Kelsea Ballerini has apparently been designated the chosen one. And while “The First Time” is respectable as a pop album, it is scarcely country in any way, shape or form and epitomizes the further erosion of a once diverse and distinctive radio genre.

    And why we have copycats like McKenna Faith being spawned! (le sigh)

  6. I think saying that there’s a “fixation to play any female artist on country radio” is a mischaracterization of the majority who would like to hear more females played. It’s dismissive of the actual point–that even female artists with superior music to male artists aren’t/are hardly being played.

  7. I respectfully disagree on that, I think a good size contingent of that majority just want any female voice, but there are a lot of superior male and female artists are simply not being played. This is a good music gender wide issue.

  8. I guess I’m only talking with and reading the reasonable people and articles then. Because nobody that I’ve discussed this topic with is suggesting that females should be played just because of their gender. Ultimately, we want good music from both genders and not having good females excluded because there’s only room for a couple in an hour. I feel like people who are acting like a lot of people are calling for females to be played 50-50 with males or despite the quality of their music are trying to dismiss or undercut the actual real frustration that exists.

  9. I was speaking to a notable number of folks across community message boards dedicated to music discussion, who insist we need country radio to elevate ANY female artist, regardless of the song’s quality and what one has to share and say (or lack thereof)…………just for thé sake of adding females to the format.

    Trust me: they’re à sizable constituency.

    That’s irresponsible in my eyes. It would be no different if some merely sought out transgenders, Pacific Islanders, those under five fêet tall or any other minority, for thé sake of doing so. It just gives less freedom of choice to the listener and more power to the executives. They’ll just say: “Hey, the public wants more women since that Kelsea song hit #1. Better find more like her while the iron is still hot!”

    And that attitude I’ve observed elsewhere is précisely why more talented women like Lindi Ortega, Caitlin Rose and Gretchen Péters will all but certainly remain off thé airwaves while à few sélect women who are willing to subsume the bra-country/metro-bra style will take control and speak for mainstream listeners.

  10. Well, I’m glad I stay away from those message boards, because I certainly haven’t run across that limited philosophy in the social media or articles that I’ve read.

  11. I wish I was as fortunate as you are, Leeann. Unfortunately, colleges tend not to lend to your intelligent position.

  12. That’s a strawman.

    I don’t know a single person in real life who thinks that we should promote all things female regardless of their quality, and I go to a liberal East Coast school.

    Even the heads of our feminism-in-action society, who I do think have a tendency to alienate potential allies by punching sideways rather than attempting to educate people, would never say inane shit like that.

  13. I just wonder if McKenna isn’t channeling Kelsea Ballerini (and I’m not big on her song “Love Me Like You Mean It”) channeling Taylor Swift (whom I may never come around to, whether pop or country). This song is fairly cheesy, to say the least.

    As regards to more women in country–instead of just going after “the next Kelsea Ballerini” (which McKenna seems to be), they should be looking at the women who operate in the shadows, like the aforementioned Lindi Ortega, or Caitlin Rose (who I really do like a hell of a lot), or Tift Merritt. They just seem to want what to them is a sure thing.

    But as the late, great film director Stanley Kubrick once said, “Nothing is as dangerous as a ‘sure thing’.”

  14. Thomas,

    You haven’t heard some of the garbage spewed at my campus or in the world. Noah provided examples of message boards that believe that. I have seen and read enough junk from our pillars of “higher” education to know that some professors out there believe that.

    Just because you don’t know someone who thinks like that doesn’t mean I or others are incorrect in our positions.

  15. I didn’t know this was a topic that people were talking about on college campuses. Well…good for them, because nobody even cared about country music at my college let alone took the time to philosophize about it.:)

  16. “Girl in a Country Song” raised some discussion in my classes. On the whole, I would rather that professors, those of whom have never listened to country music before the controversies arose, not discuss country music. They usually fell into rehashing clichés about backward country people.

  17. Bro, I literally study American history at a liberal institution in the Southeast. I never see any of that shit.

    Stupid people are everywhere. Look at all the people claiming that the Confederate flag has nothing to do with slavery. That doesn’t mean they should be taken seriously, or as being representative.

  18. Bro, I literally study English at a liberal institution in the Northeast. I see plenty of that crap.

    Your second paragraph is right in theory, but professors are highly esteemed and they are taken seriously.

    But agree to disagree, the conversation have deviated enough from the review and this site.

  19. Personally have seen the Fantastic Reaction of Love for McKenna Faith’s Music…especially on Somethin Somethin song took off with fans and radio in a hurry…People are Loving This Girl and can’t wait for next song she does….She has gone National…and was voted #4 on most downloads All Access Online…She is doing great and people keep coming to hear her perform across the Nation…..and it is what Radio is putting out daily and her music style is what this 20-30 plus want to hear and buy and see. They Are !

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.