Consumer Guide Album

Morgan Wade: Obsessed [RCA, 2024]
As with country women Carly Pearce and Megan Moroney, you think, aha, a bunch of solid, well-turned songs about crushes gone bad—only before long you also think, well-turned OK, but where's the sass, the spunk, the laugh line about shooting up his truck? And then it dawns on you that most of the time there's a lot more sweetness than horniness to the sexuality here and soon you Google "morgan wade lesbian" and it's aha time. I know, she's merely bi if that, and I'm a professional who's supposed to know these things going in. But I'm impressed by how subtly and gradually this subtext comes clear, and by the way, not much is made of it anyway. Inspirational Verse: "There's a mini bar in my room/I asked the hotel to take it out." Or: "You were a crazy little Pisces." Or: "I wrote all the songs/About the ones that got away." Or: "I like how you move your arms/When you're feeling stressed/Watch in the mirror when you're getting dressed." A-