Shaboozey - Good News

No one is an overnight success. For Shaboozey, it’s been a long decade of plowing along until 2024’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” changed his life. In the summer of 2024, Shaboozey rose to the top of the charts alongside another Woodbridge, Virginia native, Tommy Richman. Showing how hard it is to follow-up a smash, Richman has struggled to land another hit since his “Million Dollar Baby”, with his follow-up single “Devil Is A Lie” peaking at a disappointing number 32 on the Hot 100 and his debut album failing to crack the Billboard 200, with none of those singles even charting on the Hot 100. In the world of pop music, the brightest flames tend to burn out the fastest.

Shaboozey seems to be following the same path as Richman, with his follow-up single “Highway” failing to chart at all. However, the key difference is that Shaboozey’s album Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going debuted in the top five in the Billboard 200 and has been certified gold by the RIAA, an impressive feat for someone that the general public didn’t know about at the beginning of the year. Which brings us to his latest song “Good News”, which is not part of any album and is thus a standalone single.

Let’s start with the good parts of “Good News”. Shaboozey’s voice is strong and fits perfectly with his hybrid hip-hop/country vibe. Also, the template that made “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” a smash, slow burn verses that build up to a singalong, catchy chorus, remains in this track too. I enjoyed the deeper meaning of the song as well. While many listeners may roll their eyes at Shaboozey complaining about what a terrible year it’s been, I enjoyed the universal theme about being down on your luck and asking for help. That alone will add a stronger personal touch to an artist that needs to find a core fanbase in order to continue his career for the long-term. To make it in this music game, you need more than hit songs, you need a distinctive identity that listeners can rally around.

Unfortunately, “Good News” suffers from the fact that it sounds so close to the far superior “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”. This song does not break any new ground sonically and shows a lack of creativity for the singer-songwriter. Is Shaboozey a one-trick pony and a forever one-hit wonder? With songs like this, he may end up having a respectable career but more likely will be known as the guy who topped the charts with that one song in the summer of 2024.