By no stretch of the imagination do I consider myself a Meghan Trainor fan. Between her confused mantle of feminist empowerment and overexposure, she simply wasn’t an artist to whom I was willing to give time. Fortunately, there are artists who are able to reinterpret some of her more recent and tolerable work. Her duet with John Legend, “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” despite its simplicity, can have universal appeal to any of those who have experienced doubt within a relationship. Newcomers Smithfield take this somewhat generic ambivalence and manage to make it more personal and aching.
Trey Smith and Jennifer Fielder, two people who grew up in Texas and have recently made the move to Nashville, perform the song in a way only two people who have known each other almost their entire lives can. Their voices seamlessly compliment each other, and the simple but intentional acoustic guitar bring to life Trainor’s lyrics that can sometimes get lost in bubbly production. Country and acoustic duos can seem like a dime a dozen in the wake of the Internet age, but these two are anything but.
Listen to more Smithfield on the band’s official website.
So when Adam Lambert does this, he gets banned, but straight people do it and get applauded by the AMAs. Interesting. Also, blatantly discriminatory.