Nashville singer-songwriter Maddox Batson has proven that no matter what gimmicks an artist uses as promotion, it doesn’t mean they make good music.

Batson, at only fifteen years old, has found himself as the face of new viral country stars. Over the past few years, he gained traction on TikTok posting covers of popular country songs from the likes of Zach Bryan and Red Clay Strays, as well as trends such as Get Ready With Me videos. After amassing a whopping 3.4 million followers on TikTok, performing at CMAFest and slotted for Stagecoach Music Festival, he just recently released his debut EP, titled First Dance. And, in my opinion, it’s bad. Now, don’t get me wrong, even though I don’t find myself picking country music to play in my spare time, I do still enjoy it–when it’s done right. If it has substance and emotion put into it, I’ll be a fan of it. However, First Dance is quite the opposite.

Every song off of this EP is the exact same. Over the course of 18 minutes, Batson sings about the same thing over and over: girls, girls, girls and girls. How much he loves girls, falling in love at first sight, dating a girl regardless of people saying he’s too young (keep in mind he is 15 years old), running away with a girl, you get the point. Each song compliments its surface-level subject with equally surface-level lyrics. The instrumentals for all of the songs are unengaging. The same drum loop plays throughout entire songs. And those specific drums are used in literally every pop-country track under the sun. Look, just because I lacked interest in First Dance doesn’t mean you won’t. This genre of music has its audience and I respect the people who listen to it. However, I am not included in that audience. Batson is younger than most people at McIntosh; he’s still just a teen who hasn’t fully matured. He has a lot of potential to grow if he doesn’t focus on popularity but instead on his craft.