No: Halsey, “You should be sad” – Clearly, Halsey’s forthcoming album, Manic, is going to have some country on it. “Finally // beautiful stranger” was her first attempt at a Southern-sounding stripped down acoustic ballad, and it worked. She successfully found some twang. I was about it. But “You should be sad”? Not so much. The video, too, feels like New Jersey-gal-goes-to-Nashville-once cosplay. I wish she’d pivot hard—and perhaps wrote a more biting radio banger a la “Before He Cheats” instead of coasting. Its indirect, it wavers, it feels like an attempt to get on country radio—a genre where most loyal listeners still use the FM dial for music discovery—and I’m not so sure it’ll work. But like anything in her repertoire, there are misfires. Let’s move onto the next one, shall we? —Maria Sherman
Sure: Selena Gomez, “Rare” – The best song about burnt toast that you’ll hear all year. —MS
Sure: Selena Gomez, “Rare” – The best song about burnt toast that you’ll hear all year. —MS