Melissa Lawson - What if it All Goes Right

Nashville star named Melissa Lawson the winner of the show on August 4th and released this single August 5th on iTunes (and to radio). It's a coronation single so it has a 'message' about dreams coming true. But is it any good?

It seems these days that TV reality contests have given people out of nowhere the chance to be stars. Nashville Star is one of those shows and this season the show moved from basic cable to the NBC network. Most people, including me, would argue that with the transfer, the network mettled more with the chosen contestants and really wanted contestants for the sake of stories over their actual talent. They had the teen 'best friends' as a duo (Laura & Sophie), a "Zac Effron-type" in Justin Gaston (aka "Underwear boy" for his modeling career), a single father (Coffey), a Hispanic singer (Gabe Garcia), a "Taylor Swift-type" in Ashlee Hewitt and finally, the winning mother of five who also happens to be battling weight issues in Melissa Lawson.

From the start the show this season, Melissa Lawson seemed to be a front-runner based on pure talent. But I was always skeptical if she was truly what Warner Brothers wanted to win. Last year that happened and the label signed a runner-up (Whitney Duncan) while quietly dropping the winner (Angela Hacker) after releasing an album full of songs recorded for the show each week. While this remains to be seen, the label has released the coronation single "What If It All Goes Right."

Produced by judge John Rich, the song is actually not too bad and Lawson's voice sounds good on record but does radio really need another female singer who 'belts' everything? Is this what music contest TV has left us? An endless end of singers who are supposed to be great because they can scream? I don't think so. That's not to say that Lawson hasn't done well with what she has but I want a more nuanced singer to come out. One who doesn't hit high notes for the sake of hitting high notes. You know, someone more like Emmylou Harris, rather than another Martina McBride clone. Maybe Lawson will have stuff that's nuanced on her record a la Trisha Yearwood but if this song is any indication, I'm not all that excited to hear it.

 

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