Kellie Pickler

Thank God, she's a country girl!

Former American Idol, Kellie Pickler, is Southern by birth–she was born in Louisiana, raised in North Carolina—but she performs country music by the grace of God! With her shock of platinum blonde hair and her California Girl good looks, Pickler appears more "pop" than country on the surface. But didn't your mama teach you not to go judging a pop star on her looks alone? Pickler capitalizes on the fact that she's able to deftly straddle the line between pop and country on her second album, Kellie Pickler. The record is an easy-on-the-ears, juicy sliver of pop country that's sweet and endearing enough to convert even the staunchest anti-country music fan into a believer!

For the most part, country songs live and die by the strength of the vocalist, since the lyrics are so crucial to the genre's fabric. Pickler's blessed with a twangy set of pipes that consistently hit all the right notes. She's also backed by strummy guitars that only accentuate her evocative larynx. "Somebody to Love Me" is a sweeping, heart-on-the-sleeve, epic ballad that could veritably cement itself as a prom song in any high school in Nashville. "Best Days of Your Life" is terminally catchy and will lasso your attention with its singable chorus, while "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" is a treacle-glazed, yet easily digestible song that showcases the warmth implicit in Pickler's voice. "Rocks Instead of Rice" nudges with its kitschy lyrics and will cause you to purchase a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots and a big brimmed hat, thanks to its line-dance groove and "nah nah nah" singalong. Pickler's super cute Southern accent rears its head most noticeably in this song, deepening her connection to the South and proving she's "real" country.

Pickler is a prime, shining example of the reason that American Idol has achieved massive popularity and has risen significantly on the pop culture barometer since its inception. The show may pander to ratings by allowing cheesy, silly and obviously gimmicky hacks to audition in the earliest stages of each season, but Idol eventually separates the wheat from the chaff and celebrates talent like Pickler.

— Amy Sciarretto
10.02.08

The whole of Kellie Pickler's professional career rests upon the notion that she's the goofy girl next door. Her cornpone cornball shtick pushed her through American Idol and gave her a minor hit record, which was enough of a foundation to build a sturdy, albeit unflashy, career upon. So what do Kellie and company do for her self-titled second album? Chuck all that out the window by corseting her cornball humor into an immaculately tailored straitjacket, burying her voice in the mix, cutting away the country in favor of a manicured crossover pop. Her limitations as vocalist are most acutely felt on big diva ballads like "Somebody to Love Me," where she is dwarfed by the scale of the song and the arrangement, but the high gloss of the production also obscures whatever charms such sprightly pop as "Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" might have had, because the hooks are in the vocal melody and Pickler has been pushed into the background. On her debut, this awkwardness was used to her advantage, as the producers picked the right set of songs for her, songs that fit both her skills and back story, but she's gone from singing about "Red High Heels" to riding the Jimmy Choo shoe train at Saks Fifth Avenue as if she was trying to step into Jennifer Hudson's subordinate role in the Sex & the City movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide