Fun and fizzy party-warmers from Luke Bryan, Matt Bomer
LUKE BRYAN’S fifth studio album, “Kill The Lights,” is a little more mature than 2013’s “Crash My Party”—as “Strip It Down,” the breakup song, “Just Over,” and “Home Alone Tonight,” his feisty duet with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, demonstrate.
But, the 39-year-old Country King’s fun, pert and fizzy party-warmers like “Kick The Dust Up,” “Move,” “Love It Gone” and the unshakable honky-tonk title track prove just how potent his socalled “bro country” music can be when he wants his followers to do the shimmy and the sixstep on the dance floor.
Bryan’s smashing first-place finish on the Billboard 200 this week is significant because it is 2015’s third-largest debut, following Drake’s “If You’re Read- ing This...” and Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly.”
The country crooner’s crowd-drawing appeal and chart-topping ability are nothing to scoff at— unless his last album’s impressive haul of six No. 1 singles
doesn’t impress you!
Steamy soundtrack
The soundtrack of “Magic Mike XXL” is as notable for the steamy R&B bump-and-grinders of Ginuwine’s “Pony” and Bando Jonez’s “Sex You,” the ’60s-styled swagger of Nick Waterhouse’s “Ain’t There Something Money Can’t Buy?” and the psychedelic smolder of Glass Animals’ “Gooey.”
But, the collection’s most pleasant surprise comes from the film’s dreamy cast member, Matt Bomer, whose heretofore underutilized vocal chops are showcased in his impressive covers of D’Angelo’s falset to-garnished “Untitled (How Does It Feel?)” and Bryan Adams’ karaoke staple, “Heaven.”