Album review: Brett Young - Ticket To L.A.

This weeks album review has been chosen by my wife and she has chosen second album by American singer songwriter Brett Young called Ticket To L.A. released at the end of 2018. Being a country singer it is unsurprising he isn't massively popular outside of the US where this album peaked at number 15 following his debut album hitting number 18, it also charted in Canada peaking at number 38 after his debut peaked at number 26. The album has spawned one top 40 hit in the song Catch, it has so far peaked at number 29.

Now you will know by now that I am a massive fan of country music, it is probably my favourite genre of music, so it shouldn't be surprising that I love Brett Young. He has a really unique and emotive voice that combines with his slightly pop inspired style of country to provide an all round easily listening album of music. Although I like the first song I heard from Brett it didn't grab my attention the same way that his second song In Case You Didn't Know did, that one really made be sit up and take notice of him. To put that in perspective I discovered him around the same time that I discovered Luke Combs and Carly Pearce who are easily two of my favourite country artists, if you need proof have a look at my review of Luke's and Carly's second albums. Following that song he continued to impress and his first album is brilliant and still is now, so I was quite excited about a follow up and while it is a really good album it doesn't quite match his debut.

My favourite song on the album is Don't Wanna Write This Song, it is about a lover passing away and having to deal with the loss, Brett gives a truly emotional performance here getting all the sadness and anger you would expect to feel into the lyrics. To accompany his voice there is mostly a piano and a small amount of other calm instrumentation later on meaning his voice is centre stage and is very reminiscent of one of my favourite songs by him called Mercy.

Honourable mentions for this album go to Here Tonight and Reason To Stay. Here Tonight is an upbeat love song pouring his heart out to the love of his life, it shows of the higher end of Brett's vocal with a big chorus all while you can hear the love in his voice and feel every word. Then Reason To Stay is equally lovey but focuses on staying relaxed in bed in the morning before having to start the day. This is just really fun and you can hear the smile in Brett's voice as he sings it, who wouldn't wanna stay in bed all day anyway.

To end then here are my ratings for each song on the album;

1. Ticket To L.A. - 8.5/10

2. Here Tonight - 9/10

3. Catch - 8/10

4. 1, 2, 3 Mississippi - 8/10

5. Let It Be Mine - 7.5/10

6. Where You Want Me - 7.5/10

7. Used To Missin' You - 8/10

8. Change Your Name - 8/10

9. Chapters ft Gavin DeGraw - 8.5/10

10. The Ship And The Bottle - 8/10

11. Reason To Stay - 8.5/10

12. Runnin' Away From Home - 8/10

13. Don't Wanna Write This Song - 9/10