Olivia Lane has made a name for herself in country music already with singles such as "Steal Me Away" and "You Part 2". "You Part 2", her most recent single, contained a rap bridge and highlighted the pop-leaning direction her music was going in. Her debut album "Heart Unlocked" contains many songs like "You Part 2", and also several ballads and tracks with a definite message. It's pitched as acoustic, but the majority of the songs are much too produced to truly be considered acoustic. Despite being less cohesive than would be ideal for a debut album, it has many highlights as well as containing several important messages and describing a journey of sorts that Olivia has taken in country music. (Track by track review after the break)
Track by track review
Album Rating: 7/10
- Lightning - The first single released for this collection, "Lightning", has country themes but is presented in a somewhat pop format, with repetitive singing of key words in the chorus. It's one of the many tracks on the album with a message — this track's message being "You can do what you want to do whatever other people say". Similar to many other country tracks released lately, it's a solid song regardless of whether it's country or pop, but it's unclear which of the two genres it really falls into. 8/10
- Gimme The Beat - Despite Lane's typical-of-country voice and lyrics about boots in this song, the second track on the album falls cleanly into the pop genre based on the background instrumentation. It's not the most substantial song, but it's a well-crafted party song. 8/10
- Hard to Get - Like "Lightning", this track is more in the middle of the country-pop divide, with somewhat repetitive lyrics but country instrumentation. It's one of the many fun tracks on this album, with Lane showing her confidence through her lyrics and singing. 8/10
- Make My Own Sunshine - "Make My Own Sunshine" continues with the upbeat, happy theme of tracks such as "Gimme The Beat" and "Hard To Get". It's a song that I could easily predict ending up in a clothing commercial and taking off because of that — it's full of optimism and clever lyrics like "a suitcase full of silver linings". 9/10
- Home in the Headlights - "Home in the Headlights", the first truly personal song on the album, describes Lane's experiences discovering that her hometown is where she belongs, as opposed to a big city like Los Angeles. It also talks about a person who didn't want Lane to forget about her, presumably her mother based on the lyrics in the other songs on the album. It's the first very country track on the album, and along with poppier songs like "Hard to Get" and "Make My Own Sunshine", shows that Lane could be at home at either genre. 9/10
- Boys - The best way I can describe this track is as the gender-swapped version of "God Made Girls" by RaeLynn, sung by a girl, and nowhere near as classy, sweet or well-written. There have been a lot of better songs about loving boys/men in country music, and I'm not discounting the concept entirely, but this is not a good execution of said concept, with lyrics like "Boys/We are Mars and Venus/Boys/But you know you need us" and "By the looks of the back of those jeans/Baby I don't mind if you walk out in front of me". 4/10
- Not How Love Goes - With so many songs on the radio glamorizing abusive or unhealthy elements of relationships, it's refreshing to hear a song that takes those elements for what they are. "Not How Love Goes" details the story of a girl/woman named Rachel who becomes involved with a toxic man who wants to change everything about her. It's not noticeable at first, but the song in general shifts blame from the woman in question to the man hurting her, with lyrics such "The camera stopped taking pictures/When he started changing little things" and "That's not how love goes/Why's he wanna go and fix something that ain't broke?", as opposed to other songs that blame the woman for being involved with the toxic man. Of the tracks on the album that send a message, this track is the best. 10/10
- Money Don't Work On Me - This track is given a rough sound due to the counting at the beginning, which works well with the lyrical theme. It also has a message — that money isn't the be-all-end-all of relationships, at least for Lane, and is sassy without being rude. 9/10
- Millennials - Of the "sending a message" tracks on Heart Unlocked, "Millennials" is the weakest. It gets its point across (hey baby boomers, stop making fun of us because there's not some terrible flaw in our generation that isn't present in yours) but feels a little preach-y and is too repetitive at points. 7/10
- Mama Raised Hell - One of the three songs on this album that was previously released by Lane, "Mama Raised Hell" is a sweet song, but a little confusing considering the rest of the album. The album as a whole emphasizes perseverance and self-esteem and being yourself, and this one describes a woman moving and changing her life for a man. The relationship doesn't seem to be unhealthy, but it's confusing considering the theme of the album and "Not How Love Goes" especially. It's a sweet song about Lane's family, but a lot of the rhymes seem forced and the theme is confusing. 6/10
- Who Says - Even though "Mama Raised Hell" is a bit contradicting of the themes of "Heart Unlocked" so far, "Who Says" picks right back up, with Lane singing about her dreams in Nashville. It's fitting as the last new track on the album, looking back on her past and towards her future. 8/10
- Steal Me Away (Acoustic) - The acoustic version of "Steal Me Away" isn't all that different from the original version, with slightly different instrumentation but seemingly the same lyrics and singing. It's another confident, happy song that Lane has shown to be her forté throughout this album. 8/10
- You Part 2 (Acoustic) - Put simply, the "acoustic" instrumentation does not work for this track. The background sounds crackly and the rap bridge doesn't work well with the "acoustic" remake — it would work a lot better if the rap bridge was taken out, and more effort was put into making the song acoustic instead of essentially remixing it. 6/10
Album Rating: 7/10
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