RaeLynn is an acquired taste. She sings with major twang and not much range, and her pop-country music leans quite heavily on the pop side. Occasionally her lyrics are very strong, especially the tracks that she’s had a hand in writing. But she’s never quite been able to shake off “God Made Girls,” the syrupy, somewhat sexist song that launched her career post-The Voice.
“Queens Don’t” is a little slower paced than she usually takes it, a fairly standard mid-tempo pop country song. RaeLynn and her writing team play on the colloquial term of a ‘queen’ usually used to describe a powerful woman. The song has a reverse structure, listing all the things you shouldn’t do if you want to be a queen, or a powerful woman. “Queens don’t hate / queens don’t fight / queens don’t stay unless their man treats them right.” It’s a little too general to be powerful, which has been a consistent problem with RaeLynn’s writing, save “Love Triangle.” She’s writes more like a pop singer than a country singer. It’s her stories, her life, but she writes in a way that tries a little too hard to be relatable to a large population, and as a result, falls flat.
In some ways, “Queens Don’t” feels like a mediocre attempt to mold RaeLynn into a ‘feminist queen’ (as fans on Twitter would say) in order to make people forget about her disastrous first few years as an artist. RaeLynn has definitely proved herself — her 2017 album WildHorse was actually quite good. But this song doesn’t match up to the honesty and authentic feel of that album.
Overall rating: 3 crowns
In some ways, “Queens Don’t” feels like a mediocre attempt to mold RaeLynn into a ‘feminist queen’ (as fans on Twitter would say) in order to make people forget about her disastrous first few years as an artist. RaeLynn has definitely proved herself — her 2017 album WildHorse was actually quite good. But this song doesn’t match up to the honesty and authentic feel of that album.
Overall rating: 3 crowns