Really? This is the next On The Verge pick? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Devin Dawson is a nice guy and all, and On The Verge has made some great picks in the past. They've also made some absolutely stupid picks for songs that obviously have no distinctive qualities whatsoever to them. That's the short version of how I'd describe Devin's debut single, "All On Me".
If you're wondering who he is...well, join the club I guess. He's from California and apparently rose to fame due to a viral Taylor Swift mashup. That's kind of it.
As for this song, I think the biggest problem here is that it's trying way to hard to be serious, especially given the subject matter. The tones used are a little darker, and besides an organ in the background as well as some restrained guitars throughout, you're not really getting much here. Sure, it's nice to hear a debut single from a mainstream country artist that isn't so cluttered, but the problem is that nothing here is spectacular or really grabs your attention. The song just sort of exists. That's really its only purpose.
I guess I can give a little bit of credit for the vocals. Devin isn't a distinctive singer by any means, and I swear if I hear one more male country artist try (and often fail) to go into their falsetto I'm going to scream. Still, his delivery is sincere enough given the subject matter. It's not an exciting performance at all, but there's believability.
As for the subject matter, eh. It's essentially about a guy offering support to a girl whenever the weight of the world is too much for her. There's nothing all that clever about the wordplay used here. In fact, there's even some awkward one-liners such as "come get high on me". The theme isn't bad necessarily. It's just such an overdone one in country music, and if you want to make this kind of song stand out you need to either insert some clever details in the writing or make your production more interesting. Unfortunately none of that happens.
So overall, boring would be the perfect word to describe the debut single from Devin Dawson. It's not particularly offensive, but it goes in one ear and out the other, and quite frankly you won't remember a bit of it once you're done with it. Devin is a new artist and this is his debut single, so maybe there's more here than what his debut single is offering, because it unfortunately doesn't offer much.
Grade: C-
Listen: "All On Me"
Author: Zackary Kephart
