Single Review: “Believers” by Joe Nichols
Joe Nichols is a force often overlooked, but often very present in country music. He has a way of taking a classic country sound and making it work for the masses and taking a ballad that can seem cliche and making it shine. Despite this however, his latest offering falls a little short.
“Believers” is a great concept to be sure, exploring how believing in what you stand for and seeing the light can and often does make you a better person than the bulk of the world, but the lyrical composition lacks real substance to make it work. Every verse explores a different image of a believer, all being great examples, but each story line seems to be cut really short and doesn’t really help the listener believe in these believers like Joe wants them to.
On the flip side, Joe sings the heck out of it. However, despite his soft and meaningful presentation, he contradicts the production of the song and fails to match up to its dramatic and overpowering instrumental. This seems to be a common thread lately, an artist takes a song that has a great concept and promise only to be forced to hold it up on their own. As with the latest singles from Jamie O’Neal and Caitlin and Will, the production and story try to hard to make this a good song when all it really needs is patience and dependence on the artist who is, once again, very able to hold up the song on his own, but he shouldn’t have to.
Final Say: Flawed