The JaneDear Girls, ‘Merry Go Round’ – Song Review

The new song from the JaneDear Girls may turn off a large cross-section of the country audience. ‘Merry Go Round’ isn’t safe, it isn’t polite and it isn’t how more urbane listeners think young ladies should behave. To be honest, the same three criticisms have probably been lobbed at the country duo as a whole, but they continue to take big risks with each single they release to radio.

Lost among the auto-tuner and Peter Frampton-esque voice box of ‘Merry Go Round’ are some pretty hot lyrics. Susie Brown and Danelle Leverett spit a fierce hip-hop chorus, but wrap it in fiddles and banjos to hide its hip-hop underclothes. “Shake that what, make your backseat wiggle / Bend those curves to the groove of the fiddle / Slip your hips down to the ground / Make your merry go round / Make your merry go round.”

The second half of the chorus is easily overlooked until one reads the words on paper. “Throw your hands up, make your headlights shimmy / Slide to the left, dip to the right with me / Come on girls you gotta scream it out loud / Make your merry go round / Make your merry go round.” Yes, it’s a bit abrasive for some, but if you like what they’re shaking there’s an entire debut album full of songs just like this. The JaneDear Girls show no signs of apologizing for who they are, and they shouldn’t. They’re very good at it. The same men who will hate hearing this song on the radio will love watching a bar full of women dance along to it on Friday nights.

“Hey, look that way / Can you see the look on their face / Those boys can hardly wait / You know they want us to / Yeah they want us to,” the duo sings during the song’s bridge. Brown and Leverett ran the risk of being stereotyped when they released ‘Shotgun Girl.’ There’s no risk any longer. It takes courage to own this style because it probably won’t produce many radio hits. Their best chance for airplay is in country dance clubs and on the stereos of what is no doubt a very loyal fan base.

Preview the JaneDear Girls, ‘Merry Go Round’

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