Steven Lee Olsen is one of a handful of Canadian artists to receive a mild push to the United States over the past year, joining Dallas Smith and Gord Bamford. While Olsen’s career is still a young one, he had yet to really prove himself capable of producing quality music. His three previous radio singles, including the U.S. release, had all showed no traces of originality, with “Make Hay While the Sun Shines” being bland and formulaic, “Never Done It Like This” being egregiously obnoxious, and “Raised By a Good Time” being a second-rate bro-country anthem. However, the streak of sub-par material has ended with his latest offering, “Just Like Love”.
“Just Like Love” is a well-written song depicting all the sentiments that people relate to love. It brilliantly incorporates both the beautiful and awkward elements and stages of love, and despite feeling a tad clichéd, it succeeds in being both charming and relatable, with lines such as “But you’re a total wreck inside” and “And on the count of three / You swear you ain’t gonna say it” sticking out as particularly fitting.
Sonically, “Just Like Love” is far and away Olsen’s finest moment. Despite bombastic and perhaps over-the-top production in the chorus, it feels tight and well put-together (specifically in the verses), while sticking to a pop-rock sound without standing as undoubtedly un-country. Vocally, the 29-year-old sounds as good as anybody in mainstream Canadian country, delivering a strong technical performance and sounding in control of the lyric, while still maintaining a nuanced delivery. All that said, where the record excels the most is melodically. It is an absolutely addicting melody that helps the song, which might have been too heavy handed to some otherwise, fit for repeated listens.
Canada has churned out some strong newcomers over the past several years, with the likes of Autumn Hill, Tebey and Tim Hicks all making strong names for themselves with quality material, and if Steven Lee Olsen continues to produce solid pop-country tunes like this one, it won’t be long before we can count him among that group, and hopefully he’ll take this kind of execution to the U.S.A radio charts.