"So Much for Pretending," Bryan White (1996)

A lost hit from a guy who recently conquered the Philippines

Peak: #1 on the country chart
Streams: 1.3 million

What I mostly remember about Bryan White is that back in the 90s, everyone talked about how cute he was. (He still is!) What I recognize about him now is that in his peak, he excelled at the kind of frictionless ear candy that often made that decade’s country so delightful. A song like “So Much for Pretending” may not be all that memorable, but it’s a perfect distillation of its era. Because of that, I like it more now than I ever would’ve in 1996. (I don’t even remember hearing it back in the day.) Now, it sounds like my past, which is a place I’m happy to go for two minutes and thirty-one seconds. (My god, it sounds like I’m writing my own country song.)