You Said You
You Said You'd Call Me from Skyla Spencer is the country siren's debut album and what a plunge it makes. The record has jolly tunes about going out for nights on the town with the girls to sorrowful ballads about the anxieties Spencer has for the future. All the songs are written by this Nashville native and no matter what their focus, listeners will be inevitably drawn into Spencer's hypnotic rhythms.
The title track is a sprightly ditty despite the piteous undertones of the song. It contains the classic country guitar and drum vibe and is very danceable, despite the fact that Spencer croons about a man she thought she clicked with never having the decency to give her a ring. "You said you'd call me/I guess you don't know how to pick up the phone. You said you'd call me/I sit there thinkin' of you. I guess you really don't have a clue. You said you'd call me." Spencer takes a situation many women have had and turns it into a high energy song that listeners can wail to at high volumes.
On "If I Were Rain" rain trickling and lightning start off the song's intro as Spencer uses the metaphor of what she would do if she were a drizzle upon the earth. She emotes about the panic she has for her offspring with lyrics like, "Woke up this mornin' put the coffee on. I read the morning paper, there's so much goin' on in this crazy world we're livin' in/I'm afraid for my children. What will be left behind? What will be left behind? If I were rain fallin' down, I'd wash away all the pain around."
"He's a Bad Boy" has emotive guitar work as Spencer sings about going out with her friends and a certain man she encounters. "My girlfriends and I went out to the club to let off some steam/Havin' some fun is all we need and speakin' of fun, Mr. Hot stuff, workin' his way through the crowd. Yeah girl I can tell you what he's all about. He's a bad boy. He's got all the moves. He's a bad boy, He's Mr. Smooth. He's a bad boy. Well that's alright cuz maybe I'll just be a bad girl tonight. Maybe I'll just be a bad girl tonight. He's a bad boy." It looks like Spencer painted the town red, came across a sly guy and decided to throw caution to the wind and have some fun with him.
From its title, Skyla Spencer's "You Said You'd Call Me," might sound like an album filled with pitiful tracks about misbegotten emotions, but once listeners hear the record they will see that Spencer brings an ebullient concept to each song no matter what the heart of it is.