It’s actually somewhat surprising that “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” ended up being a single, given that Little Big Down, Miranda’s accompaniers on the song, have a song in the Top 10 at the moment as well. Not only that, but it is the second song with a big name that more or less co-headlines the song released from the album.
I have some real mixed feelings about this song. Part of me likes it and connects with it. It’s certainly better than “Little Red Wagon,” though that’s not saying much. Another part of me feels that despite a relatively lengthy song, there’s not a whole lot there besides the chorus. It’s got a much more toned-back musical production. There’s a certain nostalgia in the song, though, that’s hard to not feel and easy to connect with.
Another part of me feels that despite a relatively lengthy song, there’s not a whole lot there besides the chorus. It feels a bit repetitive. Most of the playtime is spent repeating the chorus. And with a length of five-and-a-half-minutes (another issue), the single version (or at least the version that’s been released for the lyric video) was cut down too less than three-and-a-half-minutes – almost half of the song. This actually is an instance where shortening the song length actually helped: since most of what was cut out was more chorus repetition.
The auto-tune is also quite audible in the song which takes something away from the performance. If that were to be taken out, my opinion of this song would go up quite a bit.
Now, I may have spent a couple of paragraphs early one summing up my thoughts on the previous two singles. But for this song, some context like that is needed. Quality-wise, Miranda had some make-up work to do here. Ultimately, she managed to make it about halfway there, but didn’t pull out any necessary extra-credit.