Review of Start Here by Maddie & Tae

I've been a huge fan of Maddie & Tae since July of last year, when I found their excellent Girl in a Country Song, a witty diss to the sexism in "bro-country" and country radio in general now. I'm not the only one. The music video for the song has gained millions of views, and the single itself has been certified platinum. Finally, after a more than one year long wait, punctuated only by a four-track EP in November (you can find my review of it here), their debut album (the fan-voted most anticipated summer album on this blog, by the way) is here, and I'm obsessed. Not to mention incredibly grateful to NPR for premiering it more than a week ahead of the official release date.

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1. Waitin' on a Plane - The album starts out on an ambitious note, examining the adventures of two (upper class, as NPR notes) young women. The rhyming works well with the "Ain't fast enough living in the fast lane/So I'm waitin' on a plane" lyrics in the chorus, and it's a great, energetic opener for the album. 9/10
2. Girl in a Country Song (EP track) - 10/10
3. Smoke - I heard the acoustic version of this track on Youtube from Maddie & Tae's radio tour, and the studio version is even more amazing. The background production really gives a sense of actual smoke/fire, and I could easily see this track becoming their next popular single (although in all fairness, most of the tracks on this album are single-worthy). 10/10
4. Shut Up and Fish -  In my review of Your Side of Town on the EP review, I expressed that maybe the reason I didn’t like it as much as I liked the other EP tracks was because I was tiring of Maddie & Tae’s sassy diss-tracks. That’s not true. Shut Up and Fish is hilarious, and will speak to the same kind of listeners and radio programmers who made Girl in a Country Song go platinum. 10/10
5. Fly  (EP track) - 9/10
6. Sierra (EP track) - 9/10
7. Your Side of Town (EP track) - 8/10
8. Right Here Right Now - There are a lot of energetic girl-power tracks on Start Here, and unfortunately this one is not quite as good as the others. The beginning of the chorus is a little hard to hear, and it's just not as extraordinary as the other tracks. That is the problem when you constantly put out amazing music, I suppose. 8/10
9. No Place Like You - Jimmy Robbins (writer behind tracks such as We Were Us and Girls by Miranda Lambert, and several RaeLynn tracks) co-wrote this track with Maddie & Tae, and it's a great cut off the album. It's similar thematically to Right Here Right Now, but better, with energetic country-pop production complimenting Maddie & Tae's voices. 9/10
10. After The Storm Blows Through - Maddie & Tae performed this track at their Opry debut, and it's certainly Opry-worthy. The background instruments (very country) work well with the harmonies, and it's an incredibly heartfelt ballad — certainly nothing wrong with writing about love every once in a while. 10/10
11. Downside of Growing Up - Definitely one of the best tracks on the album, and an excellent closing choice as it really ties together the whole album, much like Taylor Swift's Clean. It's catchy-ish without being irritating, with heartfelt lyrics that are sure to relate to young girls listening to their music. 10/10

Album Rating: 9/10

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