Martina McBride – Eleven (Deluxe Ediiton) | 365 Days Of Inspiring Media

Big Machine Label Group

Release Date: October 13th 2023

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Martina McBride– Eleven (Deluxe Ediiton) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

One Night
Always Be This Way
I’m Gonna Love You Through It
Marry Me
Broken Umbrella
You Can Get Your Lovin’ Right Here
Whatcha Gonna Do
Teenage Daughters
Summer Of Love
When You Love A Sinner
Long Distance Lullaby
You’re In My House Now
Closing Time
Ask The Boy
I Give It To You

Martina McBride, one of the most powerful, honest, vulnerable and iconic country singers from the 90’s and 2000’s, period, is one of my favourite female singers ever. Her story-telling ability as well as her vibrant and explosive voice, makes her a joy to listen to and a pleasure to hear as she blazes a trail and leaves behind plenty of inspiring radio hits and relatable melodies that each of us can live by and appreciate. “Anyway”, “This One’s For the Girls”, “Concrete Angel”, “Independence Day”, “Blessed”, “Where Would You Be”, “A Broken Wing”, “Happy Girl”, “Valentine”, “I Love You”, “Love’s The Only House”, “Marry Me”, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”, “God’s Will”, “Just Around The Corner”, “It’s My Time”, “There You Are”, “Ride”, “I Just Call You Mine”, “Teenage Daughters”, “In My Daughters Eyes”, “Reckless” and more recently “Girls Like Me” (amongst others) have all resonated with me over the years; and it’s undoubtedly a shame that Martina hasn’t released a brand new album in so long. But never fear, country purists, because I have news. It’s something new. Or rather, something old.

Eleven just re-released this year as a deluxe version with 4 extra tracks. Yes, to celebrate the 12^th anniversary of Eleven; Martina decided to re-release it. No, it’s not re-recorded like Taylor does nowadays. It’s just, with 4 extra tracks. And to me, this is puzzling. Like, is it a label thing, or does Martina really like the album which is why she is deciding to re-release it just because? Or is it a homage to the fans? Or is it a teaser of things to come, with the tentative promise of a new album sometime soon-ish. Any combination of the four aforementioned reasons or all of them or none of them? Reasons left unknown at this stage? Don’t get me wrong, I love Eleven. It’s one of my favourite Martina McBride albums. And I’m not knocking Martina. She’s an incredible singer who I hope records something new within the next few years. But it is a weird release. And I’ll just leave it like that. If you want nostalgia, then go right ahead. If you want something new though, perhaps listen to the 4 ‘new’ tracks (because they aren’t really new, just new to being released on CD- I think they were available digitally somewhere before this year!) and then seek out someone like Alana Springsteen, Ashley Cooke, Lainey Wilson, Anne Wilson, Chapel Hart, Kylie Morgan, Emily Ann Roberts, or Megan Moroney. Otherwise, dig deep into Martina’s discography and pray to God that Martina releases something new soon. At least we have the new YouTube documentary series though!