Kelsea Ballerini - Patterns
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
If Kelsea Ballerini’s sixth studio album is anything, it’s safe. You won’t find any daring musical endeavors on “PATTERNS”, and, on the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s perfectly okay to stick to what you know you can do, play to your strengths and not step too far out of your comfort zone. However, I think that this album may have played it a little too safe. Now, admittedly, country pop is a somewhat risky genre to make music in, because the conventions make it difficult to be unique and distinctive. Unfortunately, this album doesn’t stand out all that much from its contemporaries.
Kelsea Ballerini has a very good voice, and she utilizes it well throughout the record, effectively navigating tonal and dynamic shifts; some of the writing is sweet and quite endearing; the title track functions very well as an opener, and “Did You Make It Home? (outro)” is a similarly effective closer. However, despite being less than an hour long, “PATTERNS” mostly begins to drag for me in the final third of its runtime; I believe the main issue is that the production is a little too clean-cut and polished, and it removes a degree of authenticity and soul from the record, despite these things being present on paper in the lyrics. A lot of the tracks unfortunately end up not being particularly memorable - they’re inoffensive, but they don’t grab you either; the album would’ve probably benefited from being cut down to around 10 tracks. Additionally, I believe quite a bit of the electronic instrumentation that appears on the record is integrated rather awkwardly.
One absolute standout track to me is the lone duet, “Cowboys Cry Too” with Noah Kahan. I think it honestly stands out in part just due to the fact that it comfortably provides the most variety on the project, with the presence of a second voice. Kahan’s voice blends very well with Ballerini’s, especially on the chorus; additionally, I like that the song centers around tackling certain ideals of masculinity, which can be a rather sensitive topic within the oftentimes very traditional country space. I believe that commentary is executed very well on this track, especially in its portrayal of both contrasting perspectives; it’s simple, but it’s effective.
In conclusion, “PATTERNS” isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination; but it’s not one I see myself coming back to too much outside of “Cowboys Cry Too”, and a few other highlights such as the aforementioned opener and closer, and “How Much Do You Love Me”. At this point in her career, Kelsea Ballerini seems to have found her musical identity, and is likely to stick to it in the future as well. I can’t fault her for that, because it clearly works for her; however, it’s not the most captivating identity to follow.
6.0/10