If I confirmed one thing it's that country, as currently constituted (or whenever these Songs were released) is NOT my market for entertainment. Songs sound Rhymey, rappy, Melodically stunted, predictable. I found myself enjoying the pretty girls in the videos )Wow! Bebe Rexha!( (See there? She done turned my parentheses inside out!) and not paying much attention to the Songs. I tried not watching the videos and didn't enjoy the Songs much. I'm curious enough to want to 'listen' again, and try not to watch, to see if I can learn more about these Songs that made it to market, possibly served their function and made some folks some money. 

That may be the best lesson, commercially thinking. We're not talking about classics-potential or great Lyrical or Melodic art. We're talking about marketable product, suited to the music consumer, those Leadership Decision-Makers in the industry first, who decide what will be marketed, and the mass public, who decide where they'll spend their time and money. What will 'sell'? Will it keep them listening to terrestrial radio long enough to hear the commercial ads that pay the bills? Will they download it for 99 cents? Will they decide to come to the venues to hear it in live play, not exclusively because they like the artist or the Songs, but partially because it's a social event, a date night, something to do?

Lots of readjustments of reasoning to do here. If you want to exploit the country market you can probably do at least this good in your Songwriting. Doing just a little better shouldn't be too hard either. And if you can get a pretty girl in a video to 'sell' it, you can probably open some doors.

Here's the list, youtube links if you're curious enough to study them, or just want a good walk through what the market is/was doing. And, again, Wow! Bebe! (See? I'll bet that makes you wanna watch!)

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"Meant To Be" Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line

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"Greatest Love Story" Lanco

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"What If's" Kane Brown (I notice every word is harmonized on the Chorus. I think that's a mistake. A solo voice in some places can be much more effective. Let harmony vocals drop off on one word, a phrase, here and there, strategically, and you can have a stronger effect.)

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"When It Rains It Pours" Luke Combs

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"Body Like A Back Road" Sam Hunt (The title seems to stand alone, like a Line that came to the Songwriter but couldn't be logically supported in a Lyric.)

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"Light It Up" Luke Bryan

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"Unforgettable" Thomas Rhett

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"I'll Name The Dogs" Blake Shelton (Clever Lyric, but kind of 'routine' style. That works in the country market.)

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"Like I Loved You" Brett Young

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"Small Town Boy" Dustin Lynch

Thanks, again, to <a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.songwriterjunction.com and Larry Beaird.