The Way it Feels
| Maddie & Tae
The Way it Feels
The Way It Feels is a concept album by American country music duo Maddie & Tae. It was released on April 10, 2020. It is the follow up to their 2015 debut album Start Here. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times
Maddie & Tae burn bright on superb new album.
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American Songwriter
They understand heartbreak and “the way it feels” which makes this set resonate with those who have experienced a wrenching broken relationship and will relate to the ups and mostly downs of the experience.
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Saving Country Music
Nonetheless, judging The Way It Feels among its peer group of major label works renders it above the fold, while it would be a shame if some of the better songs got lost in the shuffle between the milder tracks. Maddie & Tae won’t benefit from the massive press praise some other women of country enjoy when they’re willing to mix it up politically on social media. But they remain a very important duo to the effort to return the mainstream to a semblance of country and meaning.
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Six Shooter Country
In an age where argument drags on and on over what is and is not “Country Music”, The Way It Feels hits the motherlode. An album of country songs from country artists presented in a contemporary style, but without severing its roots. Maddie & Tae have kept it country without being isolationist. It’s not so much a merging of styles or a blending of genres. It’s not pop music pushed onto a country audience. It’s modern country music. It really has been a long time coming, but it’s a triumphant return by any standards.
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The Musical Divide
Maddie and Tae’s sophomore album should not be this bloated or as shoddily produced as it is, nor should it have had to wait this long for release. Even if there’s a few scattered highlights, all it shows is a dichotomy between the album that could have been and where their handlers are hoping they’ll take their sound next, which, sadly, is not interesting – nor does it bode well for the duo going forward.
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Sputnik Music
The Way It Feels is a largely joyous album backed by some pretty well-worn lyrical motifs. Thankfully, the duo have managed to wrangle fresh life out of some tired bones and release a matured, highly digestible album.
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Off the Record
Lyrically and emotionally, The Way It Feels is another ball game in comparison to Start Here and vocally the duo have amped up their game too. There is so much emotional content in this record and the result is a flawlessly deep ‘girl talk’ that is immensely relatable. The Way It Feels is emotionally rich and vulnerable.
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All Music
it is professional-grade Nashville country-pop, the kind of music that sounds richer, fuller, and better with repeated plays.
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Medium
The album also suffers from over-production, but overall features solid, quality songwriting, vocals, and harmonies. Although a five-year gap between albums probably wasn’t what Maddie & Tae envisioned, it allowed them to grow as artists and develop a maturity that this record unquestionably benefits from.
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Flyctory
Fifteen (almost all very good) songs Very modern production, nice range of songs Last five, six tracks are outstanding.
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