Charli Adams – Bullseye (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/48kHz | Time – 38:16 minutes | 466 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ultra Records
After writing for artists like Chloe Moriondo, Peach Pit and Valley, Charli Adams announces her own debut record Bullseye featuring guests Ruston Kelly, Nightly and Novo Amor. The album title is inspired by a nickname Justin Vernon gave her playing darts at a Nashville dive bar. “Bullseye” came to represent her more liberated self after a toxic, conservative, upbringing in Alabama where Adams was captain of the cheer team and a worship leader at church before leaving it all to pursue music in Nashville at age 17.
Like Olivia Rodrigo minus the theater-kid tendencies, Charli Adams nails the mid-tempo and balladic drama. The twentysomething mines her conservative, religious upbringing in Alabama, and how she fled at age 17-abandoning a life as high-school cheer captain and teen worship leader at church to pursue a music career in Nashville. The track “Cheer Captain” has its roots in the angst of Hayley Williams and Phoebe Bridgers. “I was nine and talking to God in the shower / I knew he was busy, said ‘Sorry to bother,’” goes the opening line. Adams has said it’s a true story from her childhood, as she struggled with body image issues, being a serial people pleaser, and the overbearing guilt associated with sinning. It’s tender and catchy and painfully relatable. On the dreamy “Emo Lullaby :’ (” she sings, “Now I’m talking to somebody that I’m paying once a week/ I’m relearning how to breathe at the age of 23.” And on “Seventeen Again,” which floats with a feather-light, music-box touch, Adams remembers arriving in her new city and pondering an uncertain future: “I could get a quick job/ Selling roses on Fridays outside the nightclub.” Thankfully, she found a different path and ended up writing songs for the likes of YouTuber Chloe Moriondo and indie-pop bands Peach Pit and Valley. She also made some notable friends along the way, including Bon Iver frontman and Taylor Swift collaborator Justin Vernon (he gave her the nickname “Bullseye,” hence the album name) and country singer Ruston Kelly, aka Kacey Musgraves’ ex-husband. He duets with Adams on the bittersweet “Headspace,” and his lightly husky twang appealingly cuts through the gauze. Nashville alt-poppers join her on the twinkly “Maybe I Could Have Loved” and Welsh multi-instrumentalist Novo Amor shows up for “Seventeen Again.” But one of the best features comes from the determined bass line of the “Get High w/ My Friends,” which is made for putting on before a big night out. – Shelly Ridenour
Tracklist:
1. Emo Lullaby :'( (03:25)
2. Cheer Captain (03:00)
3. Didn’t Make It (03:51)
4. Headspace (04:17)
5. Get High w/ My Friends (02:38)
6. JOKE’S ON YOU (I Don’t Want To) (03:25)
7. Maybe Could Have Loved (03:41)
8. Bother With Me (03:59)
9. Remember Cloverland (03:03)
10. Seventeen Again (03:24)
11. Bullseye (03:33)
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