Is Maddie & Tae’s ‘Friends Don’t’ a Hit? Listen and Sound Off!
Maddie & Tae's new single "Friends Don't" immediately lets you know the pair have matured. Lyrically and sonically this is a far cry from the pickin' and smilin' country songs that became signatures of their debut album.
The pop-friendly, sly revealing of the heart finds Maddie & Tae at a familiar crossroads. Simply put: they're asking "What are we?" to a lover. While the anxiety of the moment is built with a rainy guitar lick and boom-hiss electronic drum beat (plus dynamic and dramatic harmonies), the duo don't lyrically recognize a yearning to be more than friends until the final line of the chorus. After their melody swells and releases, as they're about to transition, they say, almost as a throw away:
"We do, but friends don't ..."
The song turns there, becoming the thing we all anticipated as Maddie & Tae closed the first verse. The second verse of "Friends Don't" is less unique, with Marlow and Dye singing of being downtown drunk and of nondescript futures. Jon Nite and Justin Ebach helped the duo write the song. After a long break, their return to radio is no grand statement, but recognition that times have changed since they released Start Here in 2015. They changed, too, remain sincere and authentic.
Did You Know?: The new Maddie & Tae album will be a kind of concept album that follows a relationship through its arc, from conception to its peak, the breakup and eventual independence.
These Women Are Changing Country Music!
Maddie & Tae's "Friends Don't" Lyrics:
They don’t cancel other plans / Have conversations with nothin’ but their eyes / They don’t hear each other’s names / And forget to concentrate / Hits a nerve and lights you up like dynamite.
Chorus:
Friends don’t call you in the middle of the night / Couldn’t even tell you why / They just felt like saying hi / Friends don’t stand around playing with their keys / Finding reasons not to leave / Trying to hide the chemistry / Drive a little too slow / Take the long way home / Get a little too close / We do but but friends don’t.
They don’t almost say I love you / When they’re downtown somewhere just a little drunk / They don’t talk about the future / And put each other in it / And get chills with every accidental touch.
I keep telling myself this might be nothing, might be nothing / But one look in your eyes and God there’s something, there’s something / You can lie to me and say you don’t / But I know you do and I love you too.