I’m going to start this review by saying that I am not a huge fan of most country. I will also say that when I started the album I was immensely shocked with what I heard.

Lauren Alaina was the 10th season of American Idol’s runner-up, renowned for having a striking similarity vocally with other Idol alumni, Carrie Underwood. On her debut album “Wildflower” many of the songs are leaning towards quieter country songs, which were okay, but all sounded about the same as the one before it. The lyrics for these songs were very well written, I just didn’t care for their style.

Meanwhile, the faster songs on the album, such as “Georgia Peaches” and “One of Those Boys” were outstanding. They mixed elements of classic rock n’ roll with country, causing them to be ultimately more enjoyable.

Song Highlights:

“Georgia Peaches”:

The opener of the album and also one of the best. It’s a very upbeat, fast and fun song with a catchy chorus about Georgia peaches. The song is full of country twang, distorted rock guitars, fiddle, steel pedal and Alaina’s voice.

“The Middle”:

This was probably my favorite softer track on the album, probably just because it had a different theme then the other quiet songs. The chorus ends with probably my favorite line on the album: “the beginning and the end mean so little, what matters most is in the middle.”

“One Of Those Boys”:

The song starts out with a guitar squeal and a very ZZ Top style guitar riff, which was an automatic plus for me. The riff continues (much to my delight) and a very strong lead fiddle line plays over the riff, while Alaina sings about the type of guy she wants. Right in the middle of the song, there are a few seconds of a too short guitar/fiddle solo, this touch probably made this my favorite song on the album.

Rating: 7.9/10

The album had three solid tracks, her lyrics were well written, the instrumentation was decent and her voice was beautiful, but most of the tracks were just not my thing.