Ingrid Andress - Lady Like

3.1

Ratings

3.1/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Ingrid Andress' debut album
Some songs like "Bad Advice" show a lot of potential
Overall good musical quality

Flyctory.com Cons

Too few tracks, too short
Several songs have a similar structure

After More Hearts Than Mine boosted Ingrid Andress country music career to a major level, the US country artist released her debut album Lady Like on 27th March 2020. Here is a review of the record.

Ingrid Andress – About The Artist

Ingrid Elizabeth Andress was born on 21st September 1991 in Southfield, Michigan, a Northeastern suburb of Detroit. She however grew up in Colorado and also learned some instruments in her childhood. Andress studied songwriting and performance in Boston. in 2018, she signed her first record deal. Her debut single More Hearts than mine, which is on Lady Like as well, was already a great success in the charts. Lady Like is the debut album of Andress – before that, she only released an EP called The Rosebank Acoustic Sessions.

Ingrid Andress – Lady Like – Track by Track

The album contains eight songs and lasts 26 minutes.

1. Bad Advice

The track starts with an intrsumental, rhythmic, happy-feeling intro. Bad Advice is definitely an outstanding track of the album, as it feels that Andress is narrating her story in the verses rather than singing them, especially in the first one. The sound is maybe a bit surprising as a starting track if you have the songs in mind she released so far – but it is definitely a positive surprise. Bad Advice is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

But I’m no closer to gettin’ over you
No closer to heartache being through
Every remedy or stupid thing I try ain’t helpin’ like it should
But at least I’m getting good at takin’ bad advice
Oh, bad advice, yeah
Every remedy or stupid thing I try ain’t helpin’ like it should
But at least I’m getting good

2. Both

I am not too much a fan of Both, I have to admit. The very chorus-driven song and thus repetitive track is a bit too limited in its story to me – on the other hand, it is a nice melody, a nice recording.

3. We’re Not Friends

We’re Not Friends is definitely one of the most intense songs on the album. A nice recording, which still feels to have a hard time to really touch me – even after listening to it several times. Could imagine that you like it much more than I do.

4. The Stranger

I know you remember that first night
I asked if you would wanna dance
You made me laugh in the neon light
With your two left feet telling me you can’t

The Stranger caught me from the very first second. A really good song, it even got a touch of More Hearts Than Mine to me. Andress creates a very individual sound in these kind of songs, love it!

5. Anything But Love

Anything But Love starts very slow (which is quite characteristic to a couple of songs in the album) and then gains more and more power. A quite intense recording, nice song!

6. More Hearts Than Mine

Do I really need to do any commenting on this track? Whatever I write, you will have your own thoughts about this one already anyway. To me it’s a great one.

7. Life of The Party

Life of The Party is a perfect example, why I struggle with some of the Ingrid Andress songs: there is no doubt about her musical quality – but while the chorus has so much power and energy, it feels like Andress needs the verses (especially the first one) to relax and gain energy for that. She is a great artist, a great interpreter of quiet moments in songs (like More Hearts Than Mine) and I love to listen to her to be energetic and strong. But having this mixture of power and quiet songs in too many songs feels like a Nashville rush hour traffic jam – stop and go. This seventh track of the album is indeed a good song, I would just love to feel the power-girl in her for three minutes as well.

8. Lady Like

Lady Like is another of the pre-released songs. Similar to Life of the Party, this final track of the album has a lot of power around the chorus. The quiet moments are a bit more rare, at least.

Ingrid Andress – Lady Like – Spotify

Here is the Spotify widget to pre-listen to the album:

Ingrid Andress – Lady Like – My View

I don’t like the “technical perimeters” of the album: eight songs and 26 minutes are just not the kind of showcase of an artist I expect of an album. Even worse when you know more than half of the songs before the album is released. Apart from the outstanding More Hearts Than Mine, Bad Advice is the best track on the album to me. A huge factor is that it is different. Many other songs on the album do have a high quality and are more or less nice as individual tracks, but a compilation of eight songs, they feel a bit too thin in a too thin collection to me.

Flyctory.com Country Music Reviews

Here are reviews of all country music albums and EPs I reviewed earlier on the website: