Lee Anderson – “I Don’t Just Love You 2 (I Love You More)” Feat. Andrew Hall

Lee Anderson – “I Don’t Just Love You 2 (I Love You More)” Feat. Andrew Hall – Single Review

I mean…

…whaddya want me to do here?  Am I supposed to critically butcher a song that a dude wrote for his wife?  I love love, and hopefully you do too.  From what I’ve read, songwriter Lee Anderson wrote this for his incredible wife…you can find a write-up where the lyric video is posted up and it’ll go on to explain that saying I love you wasn’t enough, so he chose to say “234” instead, because “it’s like saying ‘I love you 2…3 and 4 because I just love you more.’”  C’mon y’all – who wouldn’t want to hear that from their special someone, right?  That’s sweet stuff, and the kind of cute competitive spirit I can get behind.

Having said that, you know if I’ve got something to say, I’m gonna say it – because that’s who I am.

I’ll say this right off the drop…many of you regular readers of these pages of ours know where I tend to end up criticizing the relationship between a songwriter and the hired ace they got to sing their words.  Far too many times I’ve heard songs where the songwriter wouldn’t budge, there was no compromise, and as a result of having an awkward pace or metering, things just don’t work out or have the kind of fluidity a song needs to thrive.  It’s a natural danger that occurs in the business of making music – both a singer and a songwriter need totally different things.  For a songwriter, it’s about the message, which of course come in lyrical form.  For a singer, they just need that seamless fluidity line after line to be at their best.  More often than you’d expect, these aspects of a song can be completely at odds with each other.  If you’re the smart kind of songwriter, you allow for a little bit of flexibility so that the artist that ends up singing your words makes them sound as good as they can, you feel me?  There’s evidence that Lee Anderson is just such a man…you’ll see in the lyrics there are at least a few spots where the words have changed just slightly in the song to fit the metering so that singer Andrew Hall can be at his best, without having to compromise the integrity of the meaning in Anderson’s song or what he truly wants to say.  So…that’s a huge win for this song overall…the fact that they’re comfortable enough to find that space where everything works for everyone is precisely the kind of relationship that leads to stellar results.  The fluidity you want to find in how songwriters and singers work most effectively with is on display in what you’ll hear throughout “I Don’t Just Love You 2 (I Love You More).”  It’s co-written with Andrew…that’s another indication of the right kind of collaboration – you want the featured artists to have the kind of freedom they need to find what works for them to help get the best outta the writing.

So we’re cool there.  Lyrically, I like what Lee’s done for the most part, and I’m just gonna decline on saying this line or that line might have been slightly better by doing this or that – let the man love his wife without any kind of major interference from me, will ya?  I look at it this way – he had way more lines that I liked than ones I might have potentially adjusted…this is a love song, it’s a personal one, and at the end of the day, there is only ONE member of the audience that has an opinion that really matters.  Lee’s descriptive and writes with an honest, open heart…and I honestly think listeners will positively respond to that.  Like, for real…if this planet was simply filled with people that wrote something this sincere and special for their loved ones, the whole experience of what it’s like to be human would be completely, totally, and wonderfully different.  So heck yeah, I’m all for it.  You’re clearly an amazing lady Mrs. Anderson, with a husband that quite obviously adores you, and we all wanna cheer that on.

As far as Hall goes, the dude’s clearly very talented.  I thought he tackled the “2 3 4” part of the song in a different way than I was expecting when it comes to the timing & such, but it worked out well.  As far as the guy’s voice is concerned or the music that comes along with it…no complaints from me, and I’m pretty sure you won’t have any yourself either.  The music can be pretty bare when it’s at its most mellow, but those same spots were usually where you’d find some real highlights for the emotion and sincerity that Hall sings with.  The most I’ll concede to ya is that it wasn’t the highest of high notes for Andrew’s voice that impressed me most, it was the professionalism and confidence that he sang with throughout the whole song.  Clearly a born entertainer that is gifted with a remarkable range, I feel like the inclusion of Andrew Hall was one of the most crucial choices made by Anderson in terms of getting the maximum potential out of this song.  I like to think we all know when someone’s really right for the part, but I’d be the first to tell you that most accept who’s available over waiting for who’s right.  This is a solid example of a collaboration that works, and that there’s no substitute for a songwriter finding the perfect voice to sing their words out loud.  For real y’all…think about it…think about having something super important that you wanna say, and then finding the right voice to say it.  Whether that’s your own or someone else’s, you get the point; it’s exactly what’s needed in order to really bring the words to life.

Stylistically, I almost had to chuckle a little bit in how this song is really kind of just a bit of everything.  Like, to me it’s clearly a Pop song, and/or that’s at least the dominant trait of “I Don’t Just Love You 2 (I Love You More).”  Obviously it also has a highly digital/Electro-based component to the music as well, so I could see this song finding its way to those playlists as well.  And then like…like I’m just gonna be real with you and say that as I listened to the first verse, I basically felt like this could just as easily qualify for what passes as modern-day Country too.  Don’t get it twisted, I still personally think that’s a stretch, but the industry and its fans wouldn’t…that’s what I’m getting at.  Anyhow.  Again, you get the point – it’s the hybrid songs that are certainly winning the war with listeners right now, so this is a relevant release in that respect too.  You just never know folks…what started with one man’s humble tribute to his wife, might just become a whole lot of people’s favorite love new song released in the year 2025…just sayin.’

Find music from Lee Anderson at his channel at YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/@loveyoumore234

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