ALBUM REVIEW: Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings Present Sometimes Y
ALBUM REVIEW: Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings Present Sometimes Y
The collab of a lifetime
Industry moguls, Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings have joined forces to debut their new rock project — Sometimes Y. With Yelawolf being dubbed as “one of hip-hop’s most vital voices” by The Guardian and Jennings as one of the most sought after producers and songwriters, this duo set the bar high as they present their debut Self-Titled album available via Yelawolf’s label Slumerican. This 10 track collection opens up a new realm for both Yelawolf and Jennings, offering a new age of music that will make you wonder where its been all your life.
It’s intro track — named after the project themselves — begins the countdown into “Sometimes Y.” Taking off with a retro, robotic beat reminiscent of the beats similarly used by the world renown Lady Gaga, “Sometimes Y” drops into a classic rock jam. The switch-up is enough to give you musical whiplash, but quickly forgiven as you find yourself tapping your foot to this new-age rock, funk moment. With a quick end, you’re thrown into “Hole In My Head.” Playing out like the rock ballads our parents made us listen to in the car growing, it’s both nostalgic and and an easy listen — the perfect foundation for generations to co-mingle.
We flow into previously released singles, “Make Me A Believer” and “Rock & Roll Baby” — both holding true to their hair metal roots. Alongside those tracks joins “Jump Out The Window” — an upbeat track that shines bright with the moment the rock genre made the shift from hair metal to pop rock. Together they’ve amassed nearly 6 millions views collectively on their official music videos. Speaking on Sometimes Y, Yelawolf shares, “What can I really say about this body of work we put together other than it’s fucking killer!! I’m so damn proud of this band and Shooter’s production. It’s been a long time coming to get to this point in my career, and personally a goal long overdue that I set to achieve much earlier in life, but it would never have been the same had I done it before. It’s bittersweet to know it’s finally out. We’ve been sitting on it for nearly two years and I relished listening to it in private. It was like having the raddest shit I’d ever done and no one had a clue what I was sitting on. I’m stoked to carry my existing fans into this new chapter and to bring all these new fans into the house of rock and roll that we just added another room too.”
Joining this record’s release is the official music video for “Radio.” A steady guitar riff drives forth the track as the video opens with Yelawolf cruising down the Vegas strip. Lyrics lined with drugs, booze and raw sexual tension, “Radio” is the retro hit for the modern era. While the video may not be enough to make Mötley Crüe blush, “Radio” would easily be celebrated by each of the founding fathers of hair metal.
Jennings shares his feelings on the record’s release with, “Today is a day I’ve been waiting for for nearly two years. In 2020, after a decade of expressing a desire to collaborate, alongside band members Jamie Douglass, Ted Russell Kamp and John Schreffler, Yelawolf and I finally came together to create Sometimes Y. The project itself is a reflection of our mutual love and admiration for the history of music, as well as our desire to always break new ground. This record represents a beautiful moment when a perfect storm of creative collaboration met with a validation of a life’s work between bandmates. The end result is one of my most proud moments in my musical journey. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to create this album alongside our outstanding front man. I’m excited for the world to hear it.”
The 10 piece intro record concludes with “Moonshiner’s Run” — a rocking, hard hitting track that doesn’t give you a moment to breathe. In proper rock fashion, it’s pedal to the metal for an epic conclusion of a collaboration that’s been a long time coming. While the record can feel heavy to consume at times, it fully embodies what is rock at its core — chaos that offers up breaths of fresh air, spontaneity and good times. The next time you hear someone say, “rock n roll is dead,” pop on Sometimes Y and make them eat their words.
