Single Review: ‘Cheat On You’ – Big & Rich

11 years ago Liv Carter 2
Big & Rich Cheat on You single review
Warner Music Nashville

 

Songwriters: John Rich, Amanda Watkins, Kasey Buckley

Maybe I don’t have my finger on the pulse of my beloved America, but I’ve never been so mad at a significant other that I thought the best revenge would just be to cheat on them. But since that’s the subject of Big & Rich’s latest outing ‘Cheat On You,’ maybe they know something I don’t.

The ghost of Tom Petty looms large over this track’s production (yes, I know Petty’s not dead, but for the sake of this review, let’s pretend he is because I like the idea of a ghostly Petty guiding the production choices with an invisible hand.) It’s an interesting choice and works well.

From a writing perspective, the song is competent. There’s nothing here that will blow you away, but there’s also nothing that’s going to cause you to make the poop face either.

The real star of the show is the vocal performance by Big Kenny & John Rich. Their dynamics are well done and the change in register of the melodies from verse to lift to chorus really amp up the arrangement, helped of course, by the guitars opening up and playing beautiful, sparkly, open chords.

It’s not their best, but it’s certainly not their worst, and this one is middle-of-the-road enough that it could be one of their bigger tracks since ‘Save A Horse…’

thumb-up-UCN

 

 

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter