Coming on the heels of four straight #1 singles, you might think Chris Young would be willing to take a chance, push a single on merits of quality.  Unfortunately, his latest offering “You” shows that the Young camp is still fully entrenched in radio-friendly mode.  Listening to this song the word that kept popping up in my head was simply “safe”.  Now lot’s of songs shipped to radio are undeniably safe, but this one is safe to the point that it becomes uninteresting and just plain bland. 

The song sees Young declaring and describing his feelings for his woman and how she makes him feel.  Lyrically the song does an ok job, it’s clear that Young and co-writer Luke Laird intended this to be a charmer in the vein of Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” or Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor,” but it falls well short of those songs, in large part to a clumsy hook.  The hook of the song is “I’ve never found anything that makes me feel like I do about…You”, only Young sings it like he’s in an enunciation bee, the end result being a clumsy mess that disrupts the melody and is very difficult to sing-along to.  Otherwise, the rest of the chorus is effectively catchy and the melody succeeds in being light and whimsical, if still a little on the safe side.  The jarring delivery of the hook makes me wonder if a veteran of these kinds of songs, someone like Craig Morgan, could’ve given a smoother vocal.  Still, there’s nothing inherently bad about the song, especially once you get used to the chorus. 

Chris Young made a solid, radio-friendly record that had plenty of potential hits on it, and why his label chose to push such a mediocre song is quite puzzling.  It’s still a safe (there’s that word again) bet though, as top 10 is a given, top 5 more than likely, and he won’t lose much if any momentum with this release.  But as Darius Rucker is starting to find out, too many of these releases will eventually catch up with you.  Here’s to hoping for a more substantiate single next time out for Mr. Young.

Read: "Neon" Review