With another number one under his belt with ‘What My World Spins Around,’ Jordan Davis will this week release his sophomore album – Bluebird Days. Pre-save the album here.
Ahead of his performance as part of this year’s C2C 2023 Festival, Jordan Davis will this week release his second studio album – Bluebird Days – a captivating record that shows a snapshot of Davis, as he is now in his life and career, a movement forward from his debut album Home State, released back in 2018.
Davis has always had an ease about him when he steps into easy-breezy, summer jams, but he truly hits his stride when these are met with lyrical twists, giving them a needed spice. So, on the record’s opening track, Davis hits the gas pedal on ‘Damn Good Time,’ a charming track about enjoying the lighter side of life. Elsewhere, Davis offers bigger, heavier production on his upbeat party tracks. So, on the funk-laden ‘One Beer In Front Of The Other,’ Davis easily trips around his lyrics in an intoxicating track about drinking to forget – a theme he returns to on ‘Whiskey Weak’ – a sultrier and lazier groove of a track (‘She stole the bright out the neon / Got me running up these tabs… Her “Goodbye” ruined everything / Her leaving even made the whiskey weak.’) On the former though, Davis’ lyricism is on point – simple words to fit complicated and twisted rhythms. ‘The only way to make the moving on train go / Is putting one beer in front of the other / Linkin’ drink rings into another / ‘Cause your goodbye kinda hurt like a mother / But I’m thinking maybe that I’m on the upper.’ More than anything else, the track really is a damn good time.
Davis’ sweet spot has been refined over the years, honed to tracks with real depth and a moral story – couched in charming production and lyricism. So, ‘Money Isn’t Real’ and ‘Buy Dirt’ celebrate the importance of real things in life and not losing sight of your roots. On the former, Davis realises this when seeing empty chairs at a rich man’s funeral that makes him realise that his jealousy was unfounded. ‘Money isn’t real, can’t call you like your momma does / It can’t make you old friends, it can’t make you young again… It’s just paper and some ink / It’ll never ask you how you feel…When it comes to happiness, money isn’t real.’ It’s a meaningful tune about what is important in life and Davis vocal – both sonically and lyrically – cuts through. Similarly, ‘Sunday Saints’ is another mellow track about living large and full, yet still retaining faith. ‘Yeah, we’re hell-bent on calling heaven home when He calls our name / We’re the don’t-stop believers, the somewhere-between-ers / The Saturday sinners and the Sunday saints.’ It’s a gorgeous track – sampling ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’ – with ease and following the line of ‘Church in a Chevy’ shines a light on the unconventional ways to celebrate faith.
Nowhere is this poignancy and intimacy more refined on Bluebird Days than on ‘Fishing Spot’ – a gorgeous track (don’t be put off by the title) – about missing his late grandfather and visiting him at their place they shared together – their fishing spot. ‘You always knew how to listen and just what to say / And that’s what brought me out here today / Instead of standing at your stone, I’m sittin’ on your rock / Catching up with you at your fishin’ spot.’ It’s sentimental, without falling into cliche and there’s real emotional power in the lyrics that peels back and reveals a little more on every line.
Of course, there’s a good amount of ink spilled on the album on old-fashioned country love songs, but again Davis is a masterful enough songwriter to make these feel both unique and personal. So, ‘What My World Spins Around’ is a rock-edged and raucous track about an immense love ‘I don’t even know what it is, but now that I’ve found it / I can’t imagine me living without it’ and ‘Next Thing You Know’ is as charming as they get – a track about the undeniability of love. ‘Next thing you know / You’re savin’ money like never before / Just to spend it all at a jewelry store / Gettin’ down on one knee on her mama’s porch / Just prayin’ she don’t say, “No” / Next thing you know.’
Where Bluebird Days evolves yet further and shows Davis’ growth as an artist is in his increasing vulnerability and intimacy with his audience. On ‘What I Wouldn’t Do’ and ‘Short Fuse’ he narrates his own failings as a human and his regrets in life. ‘Bluebird Days’ though is an easy stand-out – a melancholic, soaring track about his parents’ divorce. ‘Two hearts fell in love / And two hearts grew apart / They went their separate ways / And our bluebird days went dark.’ It’s a gorgeous and sweet piano-laced ballad that doesn’t feel over done, despite its poignancy and intimacy. It is perhaps this track that best shows Davis’ depth as a songwriter, where touches are enough to paint a broad picture and allowing listeners to paint the broad brushstrokes with their own experiences.
Sonically, the album doesn’t evolve hugely from what we have heard from Davis previously – albeit vocally he transforms on the gruffer tones of ‘No Time Soon’, but lyrically there is an increase in maturity and depth on the record that gives it real power. Davis packs emotional heft and punches where it is needed and couches the rest of the record in clever, intricate lyrics that are immense fun to unpack and listen to. A truly solid record that shows Davis’ staying power as an artist.
