Im not for everyone12/29/2023 As you might imagine, the brothers sound fairly similar, but John’s voice isn’t quite as rough and he can’t quite match TJ’s vocal presence or charisma. For the first time that I can remember, TJ isn’t the exclusive lead singer for a BO single, as John Osborne takes the reins for the entire second verse.Truthfully (and a bit surprisingly), TJ sounds completely comfortable at this range, losing none of his typical tone or power while reflecting the sunnier feel of the song. Generally, TJ tends to dive into the low end of his vocal range to make his sound a bit more distinct and edgy, but this time he stays exclusively in his higher range, matching the brighter feel of the production.Lead singer TJ Osborne sounds a little different this time around, for a couple of reasons: While I wish the production had done more, it does enough to support the subject matter, taking the edge off of the song’s meta commentary and helping to make the track something everyone can relate to and enjoy. It gives you the sense that despite the narrator’s claim that they aren’t for everyone, they would be for you, an important victory given the song’s context. The good news is that the instrument tones are relentlessly bright and optimistic, giving the song a relaxed and positive feel, and both the tempo and guitar work provide the energy necessary to keep pushing the song forward. The keyboard and organ stay in the background and are mostly used to support the guitar riffs, and the fiddle gets lost in the accordion’s shadow and is barely noticeable as a result. While there’s a lot more pieces to this arrangement, I would say the biggest disappointment of the sound is that the producer doesn’t do a whole lot with them: Only the accordion gets enough prominent screen time to make its mark on the mix, adding a bit of flavor to the sound and giving it the song a bit more presence. John Osborne’s electric guitar opens the track and calls back to the rollicking axes of the 90s (even if calling the riffs here ‘rollicking’ is a stretch), and the drum set has a rougher feel to its sound than many of its radio contemporaries. The core of the song’s production remains the guitar-and-drum setup that dominates the genre, but it brings in enough different elements and sets a strong-enough tone to catch the listener’s ear and draw them into the song. It’s a simple declaration that being different is okay, and much like Chapel Hart’s “I Will Follow,” it’s also “a gentle “f**k you” to anyone who thinks this group shouldn’t be part of country music.” It’s a noticeable step up from the group’s previous work, and it forces the genre to face their reputation and finally take a stand. In response, the duo has decided to force the issue by releasing “I’m Not For Everyone” as the second single from their Skeletons album. While you could make the case that the song wasn’t good to begin with and that it had already stalled out by the time the announcement was made, with the sort of historical baggage that country music carries around, you can’t discount prejudice and discrimination as factors in the song’s demise either. However, the duo unexpectedly became a test of country music’s supposed inclusivity when TJ Osborne came out as gay back in February, becoming “the only openly gay artist signed to a major country label.” Once again, the genre failed the test spectacularly, as “All Night” fell off the charts just two months later with only a #25 peak to show for it. While the duo has been a part of the genre for nearly a decade now, TJ and John Osborne have been critical darlings more than commercial powerhouses (they’ve won nine ACM/CMA awards, but their 2015 single “Stay A Little Longer” is their only Top Ten track to date, leading a certain critic to call them out as a “one-hit wonder” in 2018). Brothers Osborne has officially pushed their chips to the center of the table.
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