Kassi Ashton

One Liner: Bad pop/R&B with the slightest country flavoring

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - pop country and R&B country
Home: Nashville (via California, Missouri)

Sunday

Thoughts: Not loving this - feels more like R&B than country.  She covers "Genie in a Bottle," which could have been kind of fun and clever, but instead is just a slightly slowed-down pop/R&B cover of the song.  Does nothing interesting.  She frequently does that thing with her voice like the young pop stars do where they kind of "oyyyrr" at the end of words to add some sort of action to them, or squeak a little when you know they don't need to.  "Pretty Shiny Things" is the song that is making me write these things right now, and I'd like it to end.

And the things most people are writing about her also feel like oversaccharine descriptions of a marketer: "Repeated listens to Kassi Ashton’s new single, “Drive You out of My Mind,” can create the same effect as too much coffee: elevating heart rates, rhythmically overstimulating the brain and infusing a general sense of urgency, all in the best way. It’s a relentless piece of work, an intense ball of focused energy."  That is some gook.  Tremendous buildup of gook!  She wrote that song with a songwriter who has worked with Dua Lipa and Little Big Town.  And it is by far her biggest single, with 20.2 million streams.

Don't love it.  Although it is definitely better than the super poppy "Field Party" or the annoying sound of "Taxidermy."  Her other hit, also about driving, is called "Dates in Pickup Trucks," and it is better (even if still too pop forward for my tastes).  9.9 million streams.

Ugh.  Just cringing at the delivery of those first few lines.  I like the idea of the song, a date where you just drive around with a little somethin-somethin in your Sonic cup.  But the actual execution of the song just makes me want to run the other way.  

I also have to just note the forehead mole.  It is very distracting for me.  I never want to pick on appearances, being that nothing about me is perfect by any means, but it just seems like a really weird detail to leave alone when trying to break into a business that puts a lot of emphasis on looks.  That doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to remove, but they just keep it prominent as hell in her photos.  

Just to check, her first single, named after her hometown of California, Missouri, is just as weak for me.  Too much affectation on her voice, not sure what she is trying to get done.  I'm sure the 200 people who live in that town love it though!

But my main beef here is that I just definitely do not like any of these songs.  Very pop forward, almost R&B, and even if the subject matter might be a little bit country, this does nothing for me.