Almost a year ago, The Band Perry released "Live Forever" as a single. Overwhelmingly poppy with lyrics that make absolutely no sense, the song was a sharp change in style for the group and proceeded to flop on country radio. All discussion of a third studio album called Heart + Beat seemed to disappear. They held on for dear life for as long as possible, even playing some awkward disaster called "Put Me in the Game Coach" (as well as some other potential album cuts) in their live sets, but eventually they parted ways with Big Machine Label Group.
Fast forward to July and August of 2016 and they've signed a new record deal with Interscope and have released a new single called "Comeback Kid." While the song itself is catchy and unoffensive, it's the lyrics that stand out and force aware country fans to take issue. The song begins with the lines "They like to kick you when you're down/they like it better when you're there on the ground," and the rest of the song pretty much says similar things with a chorus revolving around being a "Comeback Kid." Such a statement from a group who fell out of the spotlight by their own hand is surprising and rather irritating. The Band Perry had a loyal following who enjoyed their original sound, but apparently it wasn't OK for fans and critics to be upset about the band's attempt to make such a drastic change in style.
For an artist that had found a niche on country radio as something of a country/bluegrass/pop crossover group, it wasn't necessarily surprising that they attempted to go the pop route much like Taylor Swift, but what The Band Perry didn't realize is that they never had the obsessive following needed to power such a drastic move. Not only that, but many of their fans were country music purists who liked their crossover style, and they were not happy with the out-of-the-blue change in sound. What The Band Perry hoped would be a huge boost to their career actually ended up jeopardizing it. In other words, siblings Kimberly, Reid, and Neil are victims of their own poor decisions.
Don't get me wrong, The Band Perry have some real talent, especially when they display their bluegrass and country influence, and hell, even the more pop-tinged songs aren't half bad. There's nothing inherently wrong with pop music, but I'd just like to see The Band Perry own the fact that they attempted to go in that direction. I hope they can resurrect their career, but I don't know why they need to go about this business of backpedaling and acting like these things never happened.
They can pretend all they want, but the new music they were playing at the time spoke for itself. It was as basic as possible, lacking so much in creativity that one wonders why a group of songwriters even bothered to put the pen to paper. I'd like to tell readers that there's further evidence on YouTube, but it seems that any video recordings of these songs have been removed.
Now, don't get the idea that The Band Perry lacked pop elements beforehand. They were certainly present, but what was also present was definite bluegrass influence, and that was nowhere to be found on "Live Forever" and is practically vacant from "Comeback Kid," as well. There's a little bit of picking during the chorus but it's no different than a little steel guitar lick worked into the latest pop-rock or hick hop song that hits mainstream country radio. It's a doctored up pop arrangement. Is the song itself terrible? Not really, but what it represents is bothersome and dishonest, in my opinion. 2/10.
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