Canadian singer-songwriter Griffen Palmer moved to Nashville to realise his dreams of being an artist and in 2020 he took part in NBC series ‘Songland’ where he pitched his song ‘Second Guessing’ to a panel comprising Shane McAnally, Ryan Tedder and Ester Dean, alongside Florida Georgia Line who would go on to record the winning song. FGL chose Palmer’s song, which catapulted him to stardom and landed him a recording contract with Big Loud. After releasing his own version of ‘Second Guessing’, and teasing a couple of other songs from his debut album, Palmer releases the 10-track collection ‘Unlearn’ today.
Ahead of the release of ‘Unlearn’, Palmer dropped the title track and ’25 to Life’, giving a flavour of who he is an artist and showcasing his versatility. Those two tracks, along with ‘Second Guessing’ which opens the record, are all included among the 10 tracks here. Palmer’s version of ‘Second Guessing’ stays fairly close to the FGL version, but Palmer’s voice has a little more soul than the chart-topping Country duo. It makes sense he’d want to open the record with it given it’s the song that took his career to the next step.
Pleasingly, it’s not the best song on the record. Title track ‘Unlearn’ is one of the strongest moments on the record, as Palmer digs deep into his personal life to deliver a song that feels genuine and is most definitely emotive. The Sam Hunt-esque ‘By The Way’ mixes a hint of R&B with Country-pop for a ready-made radio hit in the waiting, while ‘Late to the Party’ captures the moment you set eyes on someone and feel an instant attraction, leading to the feeling that you’ve known that person your entire life.
What rings through loud and clear on ‘Unlearn’ is that Palmer has a knack for a hook. As the panel told him on ‘Songland’, he’s capable of giving a song a title that you think means one thing, but when you listen to the song it’s actually something completely different. That’s most evident on the album highlight ‘Put Me Through Hello’, a clever play on words about being trapped in the loop of a relationship that you know is going to cause you nothing but grief and heartache. The majority of the record was written by Palmer with collaborator Geoff Warburton, and the two clearly have a special relationship that brings out the best in each other.
Elsewhere on the record ‘Came Here to Leave’ is one of the album’s gentler moments as Palmer sings about the excitement in a relationship when you can’t wait to get to the privacy of your home, ‘How Many Beers’ is a meditation on drinking to try and forgot someone, and album closer ‘Bottles on the Table’ ups the tempo slightly for a rock-tinged story about two people trying to figure out if there may be more to their relationship than they initially thought.
Is Palmer reinventing the Country music genre on ‘Unlearn’? No, he’s not but he puts forward a case that suggests there’s a lot more untapped potential that we’ll see on further releases. While ‘Unlearn’ may play it a little too safe at times, it sets out Palmer’s stall and really showcases his abilities as a songwriter. Add to that a voice that’s perfect for Country radio, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows in the footsteps of the likes of Brett Young and Chris Young. ‘Unlearn’ is a solid debut effort and Palmer does enough to make me want to find out what he has coming next.
Track list: 1. Second Guessing 2. 25 to Life 3. Unlearn 4. Put Me Through Hello 5. By the Way 6. Small Town After All 7. Came Here To Leave 8. Late to the Party 9. How Many Beers 10. Bottles on the Table Record label: Big Loud Release date: 28th April 2023
