Gaslighter
| The Chicks
1596323303.png)
Gaslighter
Gaslighter is the eighth studio album by American country band the Chicks. It was released on July 17, 2020, by Columbia Records. Produced by Jack Antonoff and the Chicks, it is the group's first album in fourteen years, and first to be released under their new name. The album was preceded by the release of three singles: "Gaslighter", "Julianna Calm Down", and "March March". The album received positive reviews. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
PopMatters
Gaslighter is bold and incendiary, finding the Chicks reclaiming their relevance. Thankfully, the Chicks reject silencing as Gaslighter reestablishes their penchant for vocalizing raw truths.
-
Variety
Antonoff knew what he had on his hands here: an album in which each new incendiary lyrical moment seems to top the last, before grievance gives way to beautiful grief. Candor, take them away.
-
The Guardian
Rather than the sound of three middle-aged musicians straining to recapture their relevance, Gaslighter is pertinent on its own terms, more proof that the under-told stories of women make the perfect raw material for punchy, compelling and bracingly contemporary pop.
-
Pitchfork
With its buoyant rhythm and singalong chorus, “Gaslighter” merges the open-road optimism of their early records with the sharper power-pop of Taking the Long Way.
-
Rolling Stone
The trio’s first album in nearly 15 years is their most pop-sounding yet, and their most honest.
-
Slate
On Gaslighter, the band updates its sound but still finds the political in the personal.
-
Paste Magazine
The Chicks Fight the Good Fight on Gaslighter.
-
EW
By blending early-21st-century pop savvy with the storytelling that made country music so crucial to the American canon, Gaslighter is all fire and nerve, performed by three women whose musical bona fides are rivaled only by their rock-solid backbones.
-
Uproxx
Longtime fans will not be disappointed in this towering, feisty comeback, which combines all the elements of The Chicks past, and culminates in an epic coming-of-age story that sees this group shedding not just the “Dixie” in their name, but other more personal toxic patterns and beliefs.
-
mcall
For the most part, the feelings of the lyrics are tampered down by the music: the anger is there but it’s not there, the sadness is there but it’s not there. The Chicks have worn their heart on the sleeve, but they’re afraid to move on and have fun.
-
The Upcoming
Especially during lockdown, there is something to be said for a new, relatable and uplifting album you can turn up the volume to and let yourself go.
-
meaww
All up, 'Gaslighter' is one hell of a ride. It is an understated album from a band that is not afraid to make bold statements. But it delivers a sense of maturity that comes from two decades of fighting and growing and learning. It's still The Chicks at their finest, both musically and lyrically.
-
inews
after 14 years, this defiant, exposing comeback album is their most personal to date.
-
All Music
Gaslighter itself is filled with tangled, contradictory emotions, a place where vulnerability signals strength, and this complexity conveys how the Chicks have opened up a new chapter in their career. They've left behind their original name, their old connections, their old genre, and are firmly focused on the future.
-
Clash Magazine
A straight-talking delight, ‘Gaslighter’ refuses to radically overhaul The Chicks’ sound, and that’s ultimately why it’s so successful. Retaining that fine balance between country and pop, it allows the three-piece space to be true to themselves, ably building on their storied catalogue.
-
Saving Country Music
“Gaslighter” renders itself as being just fine, but only “just fine” instead of a formidable comeback that could have reunified positive sentiment behind this important band.
-
Whitman Wire
Overall, I was really impressed by “Gaslighter.” The song merges the best elements of the well-known Dixie Chicks repertoire with a refreshed take on country pop. I eagerly anticipate the album yet to come.
-
npr
There will be joy again, this album assures listeners, but it will be tempered. And the lonesomeness will remain, giving its own kind of life.
-
Consequence of Sound
The band bring a lush new sound that ventures further into the pop realm.
-
The Ringer
The Chicks Show They’re Still the Ultimate Country Survivors on ‘Gaslighter’.
-
Tinnitist
The Dixie-less trio update their sound along with their name on this comeback set.
-
The Arts Desk
The only thing that I do not like about Gaslighter is that I could cry for want of jumping round to a live gig in celebration of these women and their supreme songs. Roll on real life and The Chicks’ post-pandemic new-world touring plans.
-
Thomas Bleach
‘Gaslighter’ is an album that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish. It’s one that will have you feeling every emotional chord, every angsty lyric and every soulful melody. And while it has been 14 years in-between albums, this certainly makes up for the wait.
-
Saving Country Music
Gaslighter is a good, inspired, well-written, and moderately-produced pop record for adults.
-
Entertainment Focus
With Gaslighter, The Chicks prove they’re still the best group in Country music and by god we’ve missed them.
-
The Washington Post
New name. New sound. But the Chicks still sound like the truth.
-
Slant Magazine
The Chicks’s Gaslighter Is a Defiant Act of Rebranding.
-
Riff Magazine
Gaslighter is painfully direct and beautifully composed. It’s unlike any of the previous seven studio efforts by the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, and hopefully Maines found the freedom and peace she sought while writing these songs. But it’s proof that The Chicks haven’t been dampened by the conservative criticism with which they began this century or the personal strife, and the trio seems just as fired up to stand up for its beliefs.
-
Sydney Morning Herald
To be fair, we get excellent pop hooks and singalong choruses out of it, but the ill-contained rage and intimate details start to make the pain more self-indulgent than universal.
-
Spectrum Pulse
it’s got moments of emotional clarity and poise, but they come on a project where I’m not sure it knows what it wants to be.
-
Highway Queens
Gaslighter is a powerful reflection of the way women live now. You hope this album will be cathartic for the band, for their fans, for women everywhere. We need The Chicks selling out arenas and headlining festivals, inspiring the future generations that you can march to the beat of your own drum and succeed because of, and not in spite of, that fact. To have The Chicks release ‘Gaslighter‘ at this moment in history is such an important statement of intent. Welcome back and please never leave us again.
-
musicOMH
From bow to stern The Chicks take us on a musical boat ride, with infectious top lines you’ll be humming long after the album has ended – just make sure you don’t leave your tights.
-
Hotpress
This is a fine album - expertly balanced between the poles of radio friendliness and artistic integrity - which deserves to be as successful as it predecessors, but it must have been a tough one to make, despite the fact that it's a pleasure to listen to.
-
Gigwise
Delivering some classic songs that honour their past while showing an appetite for new ideas.
-
Beats Per Minute
The Chicks sound rejuvenated, refreshed, and emboldened, and ready to usher their sound into a new era. And with their singing and playing as strong as this, the trio makes it clear that they are up to the task.
-
black boy bulletin
In a time where “gaslighting” has become a term corrupted by the mainstream, The Chicks bring the word back to its origins and use their musical talents to expose, challenge, and overcome the gaslighters in their own lives — professionally and personally.
-
PCN Magazine
Rather than give you a blow-by-blow of the rest of the album, what you need to know is the lyrics are great, the music is just as good, and there are songs which sound just like classic Chicks.
-
Your Life in a Song
Overall, I loved this album. Some may find it too raw at times, as you’re left feeling like you know the whole story of Maines’ divorce. But country music is at its best when it is honest, and this is very much so the case here.
-
Diandra Reviews it All
The Gaslighter is an album that beacons with light for those wondering how to overcome darkness.
-
The Musical Hype
The Chicks – formerly the Dixie Chicks – make a fierce return with a divorce-fueled, comeback album for the ages, Gaslighter.
-
The Musical Divide
For now, it’s a messy comeback that subverts expectations, which is how the trio have always operated, really. But I’m not sure what it says for where they stand now, even if it’s an interesting journey nonetheless.
-
The Times
terrible men equals fun album.
-
Sputnik Music
After a 14 year wait, the holy trinity of country music return to inspire and astound all over again.
-
Lyric Magazine
On the heels of the #MeToo movement, Gaslighter is a timely album. It’s a triumphant return for the Texan trio, and it holds up to anything they’ve done in the past.
-
Stereoboard
‘Gaslighter’ is a mostly successful reboot that shows, much like the name change, how even negative experiences can inform, educate and make us better people if we learn from what was successful, dispense with what wasn’t, and push on with newfound purpose and insight.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments