Let me get this straight: This is not a country song. I know these days classifying whether something is 'country' or not is subjective, but I'm laying down the authority on this one. I've never been a huge fan of Keith personally save a couple of songs, because I always found them too country pop in an overwhelmingly peppy way (and no, it's not 'country rock' just because he has an electric guitar). However, when it came to listening to this song, and reading a fan's comment, stating that this was 'more country', I pretty much lost faith in the state of country music today.
I don't know what this fan was comparing 'Little Bit of Everything' to, but suffice to say I fail to align this song to anything remotely country. Apart from that token banjo that keeps popping up in everything laundry-list, the R&B beat, tinge of nasally autotune and technological edits that only serve to annoy simply sound like pop music to me. While the melody is sweet, it is bland; at best, this is cheery elevator or store music. Having said that, I did count my blessings when the bridge arrived, and the perfect conditions for a country rap presented themselves. Keith almost hints at it before dropping back into actual singing (remember that stuff?), and I breathed the biggest sigh of relief since Taylor Swift stopped winning country awards. Speaking of which, the explanation for Keith's 'new sound' is clear: his new producer is Nathan Chapman, longtime producer of Swift. Maybe with his renewed popularity 'with the kidz' on American Idol sparked an interest, either from him or his label or both, in reaching that market with creative output. Because I honestly can't imagine anyone older than the age of 21 taking this seriously as a great song, and frankly this is ridiculous coming from a man in his 40s.
