Leann Rimes - 'Nothin' Better To Do'
There are some lessons that you can only learn the hard way. Like if you're Brad Pitt, and you're having a baby son, the only way you can find out that calling him Shiloh is a bad idea is to go ahead and then wait and see if someone can find a way to make the name sound silly, which if you spoonerise it, it does (note: spoonerising is when you take two words, and exchange the first letters in each. So Natasha Bedingfield becomes Batasha Nedingfield, Pete Wentz become Wete Pentz, and Shiloh Pitt becomes Piloh Sh...well, you can work it out). No wonder the children have been registered as Jolie-Pitt, right?
This leads me to Leann's latest. In an ideal world, you're going to want to avoid releasing a song which, by its very title, suggests that you're not committed to your career 200%. Or, to be fair, can be twisted by unkind pop writers (*innocentface*) just to make it LOOK like you're not committed to your career 200%.
What's also interesting here is that Leann seems to be channelling the spirit of our very own KT Tunstall here. Specifically the KT Tunstall of 'Suddenly I See', which is the one we all seem to be missing a little bit from KT's recent comeback.
Strange the positions your words force you into, isn't it? I mean, what I appear to have done here is state, offically, that Leann Rimes, who has been around for longer than KT Tunstall, and had different hits in many varied different styles (both 'country' and 'western' are represented. Now THAT'S range, people), is now a better KT Tunstall than KT Tunstall herself.
Weird, eh?
And certainly not a view I would imagine you'd hear expressed a lot by our cousins over the Atlantic. Nevertheless, that certainly seems to be what I'm suggesting. I don't really mean it though. It's not like beefing up pop-bluegrass with some bluesy frills and twiddles is a totally unique sound like what the world had never heard before La Tunst did it. And Leann's voice is by no means as gravelly as KT's, even in the hootiest moments of the chorus.
Naturally, if you're the kind of person for whom finding the middle ground between KT Tunstall and Leann Rimes is about as appealing as a mucus quiche, none of this will be of any use at all. And ultimately, this is why Leann loses one of the four stars this beefy little number had effortlessly earned. It's good, but your mum will like it more than you do. This is NOT to be encouraged.
See what I mean about hard lessons? Well, here's another...
Download: Out now
CD Released: September 17th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
Oddly, I was rather taken with this. I was sent a promo copy of the album by record company bods, and found myself nodding along quite energetically.
But it was the video that convinced me, as LeAnn looks so incredibly uncomfortable going through the dance moves.
It's like a Gang Show turn from the seventies, replete with a bunch of amateur hoofers, for whom the phrase "enthusiasm before ability" was invented.
i think this is a fab song, i would give it four stars instead of three. But i would say that im a life long fan of Leann Rimes and cant wait until her nxt album
But i do agree that she does look uncomfortable in the dances but what do you expect shes a "Small town gal trying to make it big".
:D
I actually really like this song, and the video too, although the dances look somewhat uncomfortable!