If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?
After years of being one of the most underrated artists in the mainstream, the last two years have been nothing short of a whirlwind for Riley Green. Though you can attribute some of that to Ella Langley, thanks to the success of their monster collaborations, “you look like you love me” and “Don’t Mind If I Do,” the Alabama native has launched himself into superstardom pretty handily on his own.
Even ignoring “you look like you love me’s” massive success, Green has now scored back-to-back #1 singles on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with the aforementioned “Don’t Mind If I Do” and his steamy, viral track, “Worst Way.” In case you were wondering just how rare that feat is, “Worst Way” became just the 39th song in the chart’s history (and the second in 13 years) to go #1 solely written by the artist who recorded the track. With “Don’t Mind If I Do” also going #1 just six months later, Green became the first artist since Taylor Swift to score back-to-back solo-written #1 hits on the chart.
Throughout the summer, Green has been gearing up for his fourth studio album, That’s Just Me, which releases Friday, September 18th. After announcing it at the end of May with the release of its lead single, “Think As You Drunk,” he’s kept the new releases off the record coming early and often. Over the past three months, he’s dropped the likes of the previously-teased “My Way,” “Go Again” with Hannah McFarland, “Imagine That” and the title track.
While the songs have been quite a hit among fans, racking up millions of streams each since their respective releases, it’s become more than apparent that the singles — the intros in particular — sound quite similar, especially when played back-to-back.
The phenomenon began going viral a few days ago with quite a few TikToks pointing out the similarities between the intros, particularly this one from user Lunchpail Matt. And taking a quick listen to “My Way,” “That’s Just Me,” “Go Again” and “Imagine That,” which populate four out of the first five tracks on the album, it’s pretty hard to ignore the similarities.
@lunchpail.matt @Riley Green come on now man, can’t be doing us like that😂 #fyp #country #trending #viral #rileygreen ♬ original sound – Lunchpail Matt
The comments in the aforementioned TikTok were a bit mixed, with many fans saying they don’t care since they still enjoyed the songs. With that being said, some were quick to criticize Green, calling him lazy for using the same riff, which usually is some form of a hammer-on and slide in the key of Db — save for “Go Again,” which is only a half-step up in D.
“Bro was using 3 notes and the truth“
“So original”
“Instantly been skipping when a new one comes out because I’m like heard it before. Lol”
“I’ve thought this for a while now, all of his songs sound the same”
“Damn I’m slacking, I only have one drop D song out”
“He really said copy + paste“
“That Eb tuning is sum special but common dude, we need a key change up from time to time”
“Welcome to mainstream country music… I like Riley Green. But yeah this is bad”
“I feel like this is kinda what an album should be? Similar songs. But DAMN this is too similar”
Of course, the key and riffs that are under fire are absolutely nothing new in the genre. A countless number of hits throughout country music history are written in the D or Db range, with Zach Top’s “Use Me,” Chris Stapleton’s “Whiskey and You” and Keith Whitley’s “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” all implementing some form of techniques and riffs present on the aforementioned Green tracks.
With that being said, however, the problem with Green’s batch of songs released on the album so far is not just the similarity of the riffs, but the tempo and execution of them. While on a technical standpoint, the aforementioned songs from Top, Stapleton and Whitley are all in the same key and hitting some similar notes (there are only 12 distinct notes in all of music), their composition and arrangement make them stand out from each other.
With Green, the instant firing off of similar riffs, despite some hitting different notes, makes the songs sound a bit lazy and overall monotonous. While, of course, the songs themselves evolve a bit and touch on different themes, they still lack a true identity, especially when listened to back-to-back as they should be on an album. What’s also interesting is that Riley wrote three of the four songs completely by himself, a rather uncommon accomplishment in mainstream country right now.
I’m all for albums being cohesive — God knows we lack that lately with artists opting to pump out 25 to 35-song records quite consistently — but there’s a fine line you have to walk when it comes to cohesion and monotony. Thankfully for Green, the entire album is not out yet, and the simple fact of the matter could be that those few songs could be the outlier. Either way, it’s an interesting trend that’s worth examining, for better or worse.
“That’s Just Me”
“Go Again”
That’s Just Me Tracklist
- “My Way”
- “That’s Just Me”
- “Don’t Come Any Closer”
- “Go Again” (feat. Hannah McFarland)
- “Imagine That”
- “Got That From You”
- “Bartender In Destin”
- “Beach Happy”
- “Think As You Drunk”
- “Well Well Whiskey” (feat. Jake Worthington)
- “P.O.S.”
- “Runs in the Family”
- “Pave All Them Dirt Roads” (feat. Brooks & Dunn)
- “Lookout Mountain” (feat. Randy Owen)
- “Seven Second Ride
- “Radio Road”
- “Ol’ Stray Dog”
- “More of a Man Than Me”
- “Ten Pairs of Boots”
