As someone that didn't know of/follow any of the divorce 'drama', the song writing on this EP is still amazing and compelling. It's not because of the drama but just because it's honest and so well written. I don't listen to male country artists so I had never heard Morgan Evans' song about the divorce, so Mountain with a view wasn't a 'response' to anything when listening to it, and still, it's an amazing song. None of the drama or tabloid aspects needed, they are all just great songs.
I think Kelsea holding the plates in Just Married was also her representation of all the pressure and weight that she felt was put on her in this relationship. She explained on the podcast that she was always the one having to initiate everything (anniversary trips, booking flights for Morgan to visit her, etc.)
I think so too. I hadn't heard the perspective Grady shared before, but I think it could be both. She's not meant to be in a kitchen making meals and she couldn't hold the weight of being the only one making that relationship work.
@@summerraine3622 why does everyone act like making meals and being in a kitchen is somehow like a prison? The point of being married is working to make your other half happy. And you are both adults who need to eat.
This work and Carly Pearce's "29" has been what I thought to be some of the most honest country music that's been released in the last couple years. I totally agree with how they have skyrocketed in the last year, and Lainey Wilson is rocking it, too. This EP is on a whole other level with her lyricism and visuals.
I am a huge Kelsea fan and I cannot get over how amazing this short film was, heart wrenching, raw and real. We have all felt this at one point in our lives. Loved your take on this.
I was floored by how honest and vulnerable the lyrics were on this EP. I haven’t listened to much of Kelsea’s music (yet), so I didn’t know about her ex’s song “Over For You”. But even without that context, I got chills when she says “I think this is when it’s over for me” in Mountain With A View. Albums like this remind me how powerful music is as a medium. Nothing else could capture these big emotions so well.
I know we’re still early in 2023, but I’m going to go ahead and say that “Mountain with a View” is going to be one of my favorite songs of the year. The raw honesty, the little details. And the line, “I think that this is when it’s over for me” is such a punch to the gut even without knowing the context. It’s incredible.
This is the best album I have heard this year. I’ve been listening to the whole thing on repeat everytime I get in my car. The more you listen the more you catch new things. This is her best songwriting. It’s very real and authentic.
This EP is phenomenal art! I like pop as much as I like country, so I LOVED Kelsea's verse on Fletcher's song Better Version that they released on her Deluxe Album, Girl of My Dreams.
I love Fletcher, and the way Kelsea made that verse her own with references to her and Morgan's relationships plus her album is exactly what I want when celebrities collab. I can see she definitely took inspo from Fletcher with word play on this EP (especially in just married and penthouse). I love their friendship and the music!
Honestly, I still even haven't made it to listening to the rest of the EP because I keep just putting "Mountain With a View" on repeat. The production is incredible on that song. But this is also coming from someone that loves country and synth-pop, and I think this is one of the best fusions of those two styles that I've heard. This is my song of the year so far.
Kelsea really shines when she writes on her own or with minimal songwriters, and while the songs may not ~sound~ very country, the songwriting definitely is. This ep has been on repeat for me since it's come out. I thought her first album was her best, until now.
Totally personal projection, but in Mountain With A View I love when she talks about “the photos look pretty on your Instagram” implying her husband is off at a gig, having a blast, and his wife is having to get the updates off his public social media page as opposed to him calling/texting her about it. Killed me.
Mountain With a View is a stunning track. Those spaced out notes at the start are so impactful. Honestly, I’ve not given her much time prior to this EP, but it’s made me want to go and check out her older albums.
First Time, Secondhand Smoke, High School, Country Song, Love Me Like A Girl, and pretty much all of Subject to Change pretty much are my personal favorites from her albums. With some of the best songwriting on them in my personal opinion.
This is me a week ago. Im not a country listener at all I stumbled upon a random Kelsea song thru my spotify daily mix and i spent that day basically listening to her entire catalogue! 😂 now i listen to this EP 3x a day lol just married is even my gym song hahah. her songwriting is amazing, imo it's one of the best out there.
This EP is amazing, I can’t stop listening. I think her vocals are simple yet SO captivating, she sounds fantastic. And then there are the lyrics, the short film…a creative, raw, amazing piece of work
I loved this album thank you for doing this! I think my favorite is “Mountain with a view” and “Penthouse”! One of my favorite line, “When I left town, did you hate me?” I felt that she was worried that Morgan was a little jealous of her success.
drama and divorce are my fave topics. her EP is amaaaazing!! and if u havent heard her on the call her daddy podcast, do it. she's so raw and fun. i love it!
Hands down this is her most honest and best work to date. I’ve been a fan since her first album and now I’m happy to say she has finally arrived,thank you Kejsea for this amazing piece of art.
Love this review! Kelsea really outdid herself, this is outstanding songwriting right there. Saw her a couple of nights ago in Glasgow and she sang Penthouse with so much emotion, the crowd's response was insane, this EP really touched so many people, myself included. Also, really interesting to hear her sing "warm body in bed" again in WHAT I HAVE after singing "my own body in bed" for the entire first leg of her US tour, seems like things are going well with Chase!
I'm SOOO happy you reviewed this. I watched immediately and thought it was phenomenal and honest. Love all the cringe, the imagery, and the details. I had the same reaction, it felt like a response to Mogan's song without just blatantly villanizing him for all 6 signs. She definitely seems to address her own issues within the marriage, but at the same time, a marriage has 2 people, which she addresses in Blindsided.
The interlude calling back to her song love and hate was cleverly done as well. I loved this album. Where would you rate it on your album drop scale if it wasn't already included in an album roundup video?
she created this album with the most upmost honesty. she truly put her heart into this project. anyone who wants to bash and talk negatively about her because truly hasn’t invested into reading into her situation of the divorce. much love for her. amazing album.
People need to reflect, express, and heal from their life experiences. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Goin' from the negative to a positive. An even greater future is there for you. Don't stop. More importantly don't let anyone stop you. The world is yours take it 🌹🥇
You mentioned Kelsea, Lainey Wilson and Carly Pearce at the end as three female artists making major impacts in country music and on country radio. Hoping Ashley McBryde can make it four when her post-Lindeville project drops. She's already teasing a song from it, although only with a sliver of a snippet.
Supposedly. But it’s strange timing for this to come out then rumors of her cheating. Frankly with things like this unless you know them, we may never know what was true and what wasn’t, because you have organizations like TMZ willing to run with a story regardless of its source or veracity. It is a bit telling though you’d immediately assume she was wrong here, especially with so little to go on.
Hey Grady! I'm sure you've been asked, but Muscadine Bloodline just put out a full length album that is absolutely BANGIN . It steps away from their slower stuff and kills it with some 90's twangy grungy just killer stuff. Would love to see your thoughts 🤙
She changed the words to What I Have at her show in DC in November. I can't remember the exact words but something like "I got myself" instead of "warm body"
Watched the film when it released! It was gorgeous and heartbreaking and as a new wife I’ve even resonated with some of it. Kinda sad about her and Halsey because I thought they had GRAeAT chemistry on stage.
I’ve been a Kelsea fan since the beginning and I think she just keeps getting better and better. My favorite part about her is how she is so vulnerable with her fans in her songs.
Love this EP but what are you talking about no great women artist since Miranda and Carrie? What does Maren Morris have to do to get some respect. You don’t have to agree with her opinions if you don’t want but her talent should be undeniable. She has won tons of awards - sold out concerts and at times been the only woman who could get any air play on country radio.
I feel like in what I have the line, I have a warm body in bed is a prelude to her divorce because it sounds very detached to say warm body rather than husband, lover, etc.
As much as I love the drama, it also makes me sad for them both as it isn’t an easy thing to go through and so publicly! And hate this whole team Morgan/team Kelsea thing. The song writing is so raw and real though and the twist on the words just married gives me goosebumps. Just seen her on her UK leg of subject to change tour and she played Penthouse and it was the most beautiful and haunting performance. Will definitely have this EP on repeat, ironic really when I get married next month 😂
Was Miss Me More actually about him as well and we just didn’t know because they were obviously together? Unapologetically was her “marriage album” but MMM feels emotionally similar to this EP.
Her song, "Peter Pan" convinced me to man up and propose to my now-wife. Maybe she should have listened to it a few more times. Morgan should respond with a cover of "You Don't Even Know Who I Am."
Solid burn. It seems like she has a lot of growing up to do. But I would LOVE it if he responded with a cover of “You Don’t Know who I am”,that would be epic.
Unpopular opinion: can't stand her profiting so much off her dirty laundry of her divorce and then she claims she was hurt when he writes a song about it. Break up songs are fine, but she's really dragging out her divorce into the public eye. There are also accusations that she was cheating on him so the victim mindset is really getting old. I don't support music like that. Her whole vibe is just pop music
have always been frustrated with Kelsea's music style. bothered me so much the pop beats but she got me with Peter Pan and I hate love songs - and, although I hate it, fragments of love me like you mean it and dibs got in my head. this Rolling Up the Welcome Mat ep is everything my little sad broken heart desires, even that interlude. Looking forward to listen to this songs live someday (didn't think I'd say that about Kelsea).
Setting the artistry aside I hate that Morgan and Kelsea are airing out all this dirty laundry publicly. It’s probably one of the most painful experiences both could go through and that just makes it so much worse. You can grieve and heal without smearing each other publicly and on podcasts. Demeaning someone for splitting the assets 50/50 in the divorce is pretty low. As fans of both, I wish them both the best!
I feel Morgan has been an adult about the whole situation. Kelsea has gone on a podcast tour trashing him and their marriage. She said the marriage ended because “the glitter wore off.” A lot of this album just comes across passive aggressive
I kind of agree. Morgan has been so mature about the entire thing,never trashed her or said anything bad about her but Kelsea just went on a podcast and trashed him and their marriage. Why get married if your heart wasn’t in it in the first place or have such an elaborate wedding? I guarantee once the “glitter” wears off this Chase Stokes relationship,she’ll dump him too,she’s not willing to put the work in to make it work,she wants the rewards without the work.The album just comes across as passive aggressive and makes her out to be a saint when she clearly isn’t.She’s too flighty and immature for a real,honest to goodness relationship.
It’s hard to watch people defend Morgan Evan’s when you think about the fact that no one had ever heard of him before they got together. Then he exploited their broken marriage in Over For You. She set the record straight in every single song. Blindsided was the only song where she ever puts any blame on him. Most of it talks about how they just didn’t work-extremely mature. Then all the tabloids saying she “cheating on Evan’s in 2018/2019 with Ryan Taggert”. Why wasn’t this coming out when the divorce was announced? Almost as if Evan’s realized she completely owned him on the EP & is trying to tarnish her reputation 🤔
Do you hear how ridiculous you sound? How did Morgan exploit his broken marriage to Kelsea in his song? Not once did he ever trash her or bash her but somehow he comes out of this looking like the bad guy? Where is the logic in that? How is her tarnishing her reputation? And why are you defending her? She’s the one basically trashed him so she’s not miss little perfect like you think she is. She’s done damage to her reputation as it is. This is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard in my entire life.She didn’t “own” him on her ep,she just found subtle ways to trash him.
Maybe she shouldn't have married him so young after dating for only a few months? The "sparkle was gone" and she was "just married"... did you ever do anything to change that Kelsea? You tried blaming Morgan for not taking the "last flight to see you", then complaining that he got half, saying he was blind, but she cheated on him and now blames him for putting out a song about it? This does not make her sound like a pleasant person. Agreed that it is good songwriting though. I just do not like her as a person based on everything I have heard about the situation.
Did you actually listen to the album or podcast? In both, she does mention she shares the responsibility for the divorce and got married too young. Regarding them ever trying to fix the marriage, they were in couples therapy for years and had multiple separations before the divorce. They didn't just break up when the sparkle was gone. She also mentions him not taking that flight to see her because in his divorce song, he said he "would've taken a flight through the night to be a shoulder for you" and she literally booked a flight for him once because she needed him and he didn't get on it. It was just a response to his song.
No,it’s not a good look,she’s literally becoming her own cliche. Such immature and childish behavior from someone that should know better than to trash her ex.Poor Morgan,he doesn’t deserve any of the hate he’s getting. Her fans are turning into Swifties and that is way worse than just Kelsea trashing her ex husband.
She’s not mad he made the song, she’s mad he wrote it very shortly after they spoke privately about getting a divorce & released it not even 3 months after announcing the divorce.
@@carriexoo So now you’re defending her? She went on a damn podcast and trashed Morgan,does that sound like a mature adult to you?So what if he wrote that song shortly after they divorced? She moved on REAL quickly after her divorce,too quickly for my liking.
@@bookgirl8 Yes I'm defending her. Where did she trash Morgan? During the entire podcast, she said she respects his way of coping, she said she still felt like protecting him. All she said "bad" about him was that she was mad that he wrote his song not long after the both privately said they'd both be cordial with the divorce. She is not trashing someone. She took responsibility for her faults in the relationship & said they were both at fault. At least she's not pretending she didn't do anything wrong. They were already split in the marriage long before the divorce, she was already moving on with her life. She didn't cheat though. Divorce was finalised in November, she met Chase in December & they started dating between end of December/January. That's not too fast for someone who was already out of an relationship.
@@carriexoowell she is a cheater facts and she can't keep a man the man always tells the truth women don't tell the truth she is just like amber heard
@@asdknjakljye in my book, Miranda Lambert did "divorce album" right...self-reflective and songwriting-driven, without engaging in too much drama with her ex.
I REALLY try to like Kelsea but I just feel like everything she does is a PR move. Publicize the divorce, already have a popular boyfriend, Call Her Daddy…I feel like she just wants to be famous and not known as a true country singer 🫣
Her writing is absolutely stunning on this, sonically I think Blindsided is my fave. I love Kacey, but this is basically what I wanted Star-Crossed to be...
I was more of a passive Kelsea fan before this album and I watched the music video when it came out and was just stunned by its beauty and how vulnerable these songs are. Can’t get them out of my head. “Yeah it was love, then it was just married.” Heartbreaking.
same. Was very meh on her overall and did not get the taylor swift comparisons AT ALL. This ep really changed my mind about her. Mountain With a View and Just Married has some of my favorite lyricism from an artist period. Not into a lot of her music but her last album was good and this was perfect. Like she could really get a grammy for some of these songs imo
Leave me again reminds me of what I have. They're both the last song from this EP and subject to change. They're both acoustic. They're both my favorites from the 2 albums.
Was so stoked to see you posted this and to hear your takes and what people are saying! I haven't been able to stop listening to the EP since I heard it, loved getting surprised with the film, which I found really moving and compelling. Totally inspired me to me to deep dive and listen to her earlier work. (been loving Subject to Change.) Anyway, this EP just feels like a really intentional, thoughtful, gorgeous artistic statement and it seems like people are really flocking to it so I'm excited to see where this takes her. And it jams. I love Penthouse - and honestly the interlude just hits. (And the line "and ain't it like this town to only criticize a woman," hits even harder hearing about what the media's been like for her.)I think her songwriting voice is so compelling and I loved how honest it was here.
I don’t listen to the radio so I depend on you for most of my country recommendations nowadays. I was resistant to give the Kelseas of current country a chance bc I’m not a fan of the poppy country. Then I saw Kelsea on tour with Wynonna. Girl is talented! Having the Wynonna stamp of approval was enough for me to give her a listen. I’m hooked. Good music doesn’t have to fit into a specific genre. She makes good music.
When people starting enjoying Morgan's song (whether for the relatability to the lyrics or simply the melody),I think she felt she needed to recapture the narrative. Only her and Morgan will truly know what details are true and which are stylized to their own perceived realities. Over For You captured his "truth", these songs captures hers. As they say, the actual truth probably lies somewhere in between.
The beautiful thing about this record is that she was able to tell her story and show her frustration about their marriage without blaming it solely on her ex. Which is something we see a lot of in music, pointing the finger. But despite those moments where she says she's angry and calling him "blind", she's never saying it was his fault. People have a lot to say about her CHD interview and the lyrics on this album, but I think that can be responded to be "ain't it like this town to only criticize a woman". Kelsea laid it out in a very nuanced way and doesn't make anyone the bad guy, which is often the case for most divorces. They're messy and heartbreaking but there's not always a villain. This really is a 10/10 project and its the kind of honesty we need in country music.
I really loved the acoustic sound to EP! I feel like it’s very different from what she usually puts out but goes really well with the honesty of the lyrics.
I'm not one for drama or digging much into folks' private lives, but all of this just feels strange. Feels a bit like a relationship turned marriage, that ultimately was very forced, and that way never meant to last... And hell is it weird to say all this almost feels like the classic beefs from Rap being brought into the Nashville scene? With just Over For You and now this EP, and like you say if more tracks targeted at each other were to come out... 😂
I keep thinking about SUBJECT TO CHANGE and I wonder how she managed to write that album which doesn't seem to really reflect how she was feeling and what she was going through..
Just found your channel from this video and I feel SO UNDERSTOOD in my taste in music. Sad girl music is my fave (looked at your merch store and am tempted by the sad boy merch haha!). I stopped looking for and listening to country when the rise of Bro Country came over but I’m using some of your old videos to catch up to better songs I’ve missed!
