NYCS First Impression Chase Rice ‘The Album Part 1’

 

Chase Rice kicked off the new year with a big surprise for his fans by dropping his much-anticipated album titled, The Album Part I at last Friday. If you follow Rice on social media, he’s been teasing fans with new songs for months since topping the charts for back-to-back weeks with “Eyes on You” but never said exactly when the full package would come out. Even though this isn’t his first album, the singer-songwriter looks at this one as the beginning of his career.

“I chose to call this The Album because it’s the first thing I would encourage someone to listen to if they want to know who I am as an artist,” explains Rice in a press release. “My career has been such a rollercoaster journey, but it’s all led to this moment and these songs. So much of what I’ve learned, so much of what I’ve fought through – it’s all reflected in this music.”

When you listen to these seven songs, you truly see how much he has grown as a songwriter and an artist. Instead of singing about girls in pickup trucks, Rice’s sound has matured to something deeper and more meaningful. These seven songs are personal and paint a picture of the good times and the bad times. While his music has evolved, you still get the same gravelly-voiced vocals his fans fell in love with years ago.

The one song you’ve probably heard on your radio already is “Lonely If You Are,” the follow up to his No.1 song, “Eyes on You.” The sleek rhymes over heartland six strings and keys make this song not only catchy and relatable but extremely easy to put on repeat. Rice has been playing it in his live shows for months already and performed it last night on a very dramatic episode of The Bachelor.

“I wrote it with Lindsay Rimes and Hunter Phelps, and when you get to that bridge it’s insane live already – and I don’t think it’s even top 30 yet. When you get to that, ‘let me love the lonely right out of you,’ that’s when you know we’ve got something pretty special here,” Rice says.

“American Nights” is one of the outliers of the album, but not in a bad way. It’s one of the only songs that isn’t about a romantic love. Rice describes the song as being about diversity. “It’s about all these different people going through different things, but at the end of the day, that’s what makes us all Americans and that what makes us all so unique. So ‘American Nights,’ to me, is one of the most special songs on this whole album,” Rice explains.

Probably one of the most personal songs on this new album, “Everywhere,” Rice sings about seeing his ex-girlfriend in everything he does and everywhere he goes. He sings: “You’re in every side street, every sidewalk // Every corner booth, every corner bar // In the dark, darlin’, you’re everywhere // Woah, oh, oh, you’re everywhere”

One of the more relatable songs on the album, Rice wrote it after breaking up with a girlfriend. “It’s about a girl that I dated the last couple years. We had an amazing relationship, had a tough breakup and that’s the way it goes sometimes, but when that happens, usually you’re going to start seeing that person everywhere you go,” Rice says.

In “Best Night Ever” Rice sings about exactly what the title of the song is, the best night ever. You get a look into his word with the lyrics and how they paint a vivid image of a memorable night with his girlfriend. “I live on a farm in Tennessee and I’ve had some nights out on that farm. I’ve had some amazing nights – the sun’s going down – but every now and then, there’s a special night because there’s somebody there to make it special and that’s the case for this song, ‘Best Night Ever.’ I’ve got this old pole barn over there at the farm that, you know, the song kind of speaks for itself,” Rice says of the track.

The singer first teased this song back in November on his Instagram when he played an acoustic version of it. Watch below.

 

Rice describes “Messy” as one of the most emotional songs he’s put out since “Jack Daniels and Jesus.” He sings about loving every side of someone. In a relationship, even when you see each other’s messy sides, you still love each other through them. The lyrics are deep, honest and raw.

“We’ve all got messy and we’ve all got problems we deal with, but when you have someone to deal with it and help you deal with it through those problems, that’s beautiful,” Rice describes.

In one of the catchiest songs on the album, “In the Car,” Rice takes his fans back to his high school days of sneaking out with his girlfriend. It wasn’t just the thrill of not getting caught and being with your high school love though.

“In the car that night // Saturday in July // We had the radio down and you were teein’ ’em up // In the car that night // Two beautiful eyes // You weren’t even tryin’ // I was fallin’ in love // And the headlights // Met the sunrise // It was so right, oh // In the car that night // We were on fire // Couldn’t get higher // I was yours, you were mine // In the car that night”

Everyone has those songs that take them back to a high school memory and Rice does it with this song. The fun, upbeat sound with lyrics that take you back in time is the perfect mix to blast this song with your windows down.

In the final track, Rice hits it out of the park with “Forever To Go.” Expect to hear this one at weddings for years to come. The lyrics walk you through special memories of falling more and more in love yet knowing you still have a lifetime ahead of you.

“Another year down // And, baby, somehow // Our song never gets old // The honeymoon phase // And butterflies fade // But I’ll never let you go // We were just kids // Stealin’ a kiss // And it feels like forever ago // But I love you more than yesterday // We still got forever to go”

Rice predicts this song could be even bigger than “Eyes on You,” which was the No. 5 most-played country song of 2019. Expect to hear more new songs on The Album Part II later this year.

Track List:

American Nights (Kevin Griffin, Martin Johnson; produced by Martin Johnson)

Lonely If You Are (Chase Rice, Lindsay Rimes, Hunter Phelps; produced by Chris DeStefano and Chase Rice)

Everywhere (Chase Rice, Zachary Kale, James McNair; produced by Zachary Kale)

Best Night Ever (Chase Rice, Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins; produced by Chris DeStefano)

Messy (Seth Ennis, Kylie Sackley; produced by Chris DeStefano)

In The Car (Chase Rice, Jesse Rice, Hunter Phelps, Mark Holman; produced by Chris DeStefano)

Forever To Go (Jordan Minton, Casey Brown, Geoffrey Warburton; produced by Casey Brown)

NYCountry Swag Picks:

Best Night Ever

Forever To Go

Messy

Rice is currently headlining The Pint of Anything Tour across Europe before he hits the road with Brantley Gilbert in 2020.

To keep up with Chase Rice on tour, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Album Part I is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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