"Learning How to Bend" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Gary Allan. It was released in March 2008 as the second single from his 2007 album ''

Living Hard ''Living Hard'' is the seventh studio album by American country music singer Gary Allan. It was released on October 23, 2007 via MCA Nashville. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling approximately 69,000 ...

''. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. Allan wrote the song with James LeBlanc and Matt Warren.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek of Allmusic thought that the song had better production than the others on the album, saying, "With the echo effects on the vocal and the big strings at the same volume as those ringing, jangling guitars,

he musicians He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

can't miss." Jonathan Keefe of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' also made note of Allan's "effective falsetto." Leeann Ward of CountryUniverse.net gave it an A rating, citing Allan's "raw and powerful delivery" and his use of

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

in the chorus, as well as the "interesting production."

Music video

The music video was shot in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and at live performances, and was directed by Stephen Shephard, who also directed his previous music video "Watching Airplanes" in 2007.

Chart performance

"Learning How to Bend" debuted at number 51 on the U.S. ''

chart dated April 5, 2008.

References

{{authority control 2008 singles Country ballads 2000s ballads Gary Allan songs MCA Nashville Records singles Songs written by Gary Allan Song recordings produced by Mark Wright (record producer) 2007 songs MCA Records singles