ALBUM REVIEW: Brittney Spencer Sings Straight From the Heart on Debut LP ‘My Stupid Life’
Henry Carrigan
Posted On January 18, 2024
Although My Stupid Life is Brittney Spencer’s debut album, she’s already established herself as a straight-from-the-heart songwriter who is unafraid to share her vulnerability and claim her strengths. In 2022, the Baltimore native released the EP if I ever get there: a day at blackbird studio, and she has shared stages with Jason Isbell, Maren Morris — both of whom are guests on this album — and Willie Nelson, among others.
My Stupid Life opens with the spare and quietly reflective “New to This Town,” an ethereal jazz etude dedicated to the promise, and sometimes the disappointment, of new beginnings. Spencer gets her cowgirl on in the funked-up honky-tonker “I Got Time,” a high-octane roadhouse romp that’s an ode to the open road and whatever happens along the way.
“Night In” opens with a phone call among Spencer, Abbey Cone, Fancy Hagood, Maren Morris, and Mickey Guyton that segues into a thumping and rollicking party song and a celebration of the pleasures of spending a night in with girlfriends rather than spending a night on the town.
Justin Schipper’s soaring pedal steel kicks off “First Car Feeling,” a country rocker that revels in the feeling of freedom that comes with one’s first car — or one’s first time with anything — and yearns to recapture it.
“Bigger Than the Song” demonstrates the stunning range of Spencer’s vocals. The slowly unfurling country soul song reminds listeners that the meaning of music transcends any particular song or artist, kicking off with some specific, yet universal, memories. Then comes the soaring chorus, namechecking some universally adored music makers: “It makes you wanna be fancy like Reba / A queen like Aretha / And love like Johnny and June / Get mad like Alanis / Scream like Janet / Do it all like Dolly would do.”
The haunting jazz standard “My First Rodeo” floats dreamily on the clouds of love; Spencer’s escalating vocal phasing on the single word “you” at the start of every refrain sends shivers up the spine with its beauty. On the rollicking title track, Spencer defiantly proclaims that “it’s her life, damn it, and she’ll live is just as she pleases.”
My Stupid Life showcases the ingenuity of Spencer’s songwriting, her eloquent vocal phrasing, and her ability to blend musical styles from jazz to soul to country in a seamless and effortless fashion. My Stupid Life is a stunning debut.
Brittney Spencer’s My Stupid Life is out Jan. 19 on Elektra.
