Renegade Runaway: I first heard a snippet of this watching the Smoke Break video and was hyped for it. It lived up to the hype. It feels anthemic as soon as Carrie starts singing. It's not one of my fave Carrie songs by any means but it's great. (4/5) Dirty Laundry: I loved this on my first listen. The verse slays. The chorus slays too. The post-chorus is a letdown, but overall it's great. (4/5) Church Bells: On my first-listen, all I could think about was the album was getting better and better with each track. Lyrically, the Two Black Cadillacs of the era. Love it. (4/5) Heartbeat: eh. I like this song but I find it overrated. It doesn't touch any of the first three nor Smoke Break. It's a good album track but it gets lost in the overall feel of the album. (3/5) Smoke Break: Typical Carrie, well typical Blown-Away Carrie I guess. Loved it from the first listen and still do now. A really underrated single. (5/5) Choctaw County Affair: This song is truly weird. I don't know if I love it or just find it alright. I think it's amazing and one of my favorite but i'm not sure. It's so strange.. It's definitely great though. (4/5) Like I'll Never Love You Again: A beautiful ballad. It will take me longer than 3 listens to appreciate it. I'm not sure if I'l love it or if it'll turn into Forever Changed and I skip it everytime. It's good though. (3/5) Chaser: It's personally the worst song so far. It's good enough but there's just something missing and I didn't even realise I was listening to it until I was almost 2 minutes in. Love the bridge / pre-chorus for the final chorus. (3/5) Relapse: I don't know what to make of this song. I was loving it and singing along but there's just something missing. It's better than Chaser imo. (3/5) Clock Don't Stop: This sounds like a smash. It interested me from the get go. I love the vocal effect for the chorus, and the adlibs at the end. Just great. A highlight of the album. (4/5) The Girl You Think I Am: From the first note, I knew this would slay me. It's beautiful. Melodically perfect. It'll take time for me to say it's one of my faves but it could definitely get there. (4/5) Mexico: Amazing. A highlight of the album for sure. Wasn't expecting to have an upbeat track so late in the tracklist. The Cupid's Got a Shotgun of this album. One of the best imo. (4/5) What I Never Knew I Always Wanted: Another beautiful ballad to end the album. Sure, it doesn't touch Who Are You, but it's great. Love it. (4/5)
Overall; a great album. I listen to predominantly female pop but I use some female country albums from girls like Carrie too. The reason I love them is that they focus on what real music should be all about; vocal melodies. Sometimes though that leads to the production making every song indistinguishable from the other. And most of the times, it does, especially at first, and therefore the albums take longer to have an impact on me. It's not the fact that Carrie doesn't show personality, it's just the genre itself. I'll need more listens to solidify my views on the album, but I can conclude it's great. It doesn't touch Blown Away and never will, but it's a solid album.
As a slight afterthought; the album is consistent from start to finish, but it doesn't have any standout tracks that just hit you hard like I Know You Won't. I discovered it on her iFest and now it's my fave of her songs
Renegade Runaway
Church Bells
Chaser
Choctaw County Affair
Relapse
Dirty Laundry
Mexico.
Other songs are all good, too. There are maybe two fillers here and that's fine. They are not terrible songs, they just slow down the record.
I'm very happy this is finally out.
This was me as soon as the chorus hit. Had to restart it to be sure I wasn't imagining the slay. My favorite song from the album. Don't know why folks are sleeping on the closing track, it's so gooood.
Listening to the album for the first time and I'm loving it so far! I feel like Chaser shares a lot of similarities with Heartbeat though and for me, the latter wins swiftly. So far I'm at Relapse though and this second half is definitely not as strong as the first half BUT I still have a few more songs to go.
Such an amazing album! I listened to it two times in a row. It's not a bad thing at all but this album reminds me of so many of her previous songs like Good Girl (Renegade Runaway), Blown Away/Two Black Cadillacs (Chocotaw County Affair, Church Bells, Dirty Laundry), You Won't Find This (Chaser), Mama's Song (The Girl You Think I Am).
Here's my list so far:
1. Heartbeat
2. Renegade Runaway
3. The Girl You Think I Am
4. Smoke Break
5. Chaser
6. What I Never Knew I Always Wanted
7. Church Bells
8. Dirty Laundry
9. Relapse
10. Like I'll Never Love You Again
11. Chocotaw County Affair
12. Mexico
13. Clock Don't Stop*
This one is mostly last because I don't remember how it goes.
I think that Storyteller as a whole is better than Blown Away, but I don't think Storyteller has a song on it as good as "Blown Away," which still gives me chills every time I listen to it. I think "Church Bells" is my favorite as of right now with "Clock Don't Stop" not too far behind. Carrie and Mark Bright continue to make magic together; the Britney and Max Martin of country.
Church Bells, Heartbeat, CCA, CDS, TGYTIA, WINKIAW are highlights 
