"Easy" is a song written by Katrina Elam and Michael Mobley and recorded by the American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

as a duet with British pop singer

Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...

. It was released in June 2011 as the third and final single from Rascal Flatts' album '' Nothing Like This''. It became Rascal Flatts' fifth AC Top 20 hit. As of the chart dated July 21, 2012, the song has sold 917,000 copies in the US.

Content

"Easy" is a midtempo ballad in 6/8

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a vocal range from C4 to C6. The song begins in C-sharp minor and modulates up to E minor halfway through the second verse.

Critical reception

Jessica Phillips of '' Country Weekly'' called the song a "sizzling duet".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

was less favorable, calling it a "questionable stab at pop radio crossover". Ben Foster of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B, saying that the lyrics are simple, but effective at telling the story of two ex-lovers who are in denial of the strong feelings they still harbor for one another. Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four stars out of five, calling it "a daring collaboration and fits right into the Rascal Flatts wheelhouse."

Music video

The music video for the song premiered on CMT.com on July 1, 2011.

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2010 songs 2011 singles Big Machine Records singles country ballads Vocal collaborations music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Natasha Bedingfield songs Rascal Flatts songs song recordings produced by Dann Huff songs written by Katrina Elam