Kaylee Bell addresses romantic pitfalls and other nagging challenges of daily life on her wide-open modern country anthems. But there’s plenty of subtlety on display, too. In the eight years between her 2013 debut album Heartfirst and the 2021 follow-up Silver Linings, the New Zealand performer sharpened her voice as both a singer and a songwriter. Witness her grit and maturity alike on 2021’s “Living Free,” an ode to remaining independent that’s bolstered by guest vocals from Canada’s Lindsay Ell. But no matter how far she comes, Bell makes a point of singling out the icons she looked up to along the way: 2019’s “Keith” is a super-catchy ode to her repeat tourmate Keith Urban—which Bell revisited with an emotional new version in 2024—and 2025’s “Song for Shania” works similar magic for the titular Twain. One can also hear strong traces of the latter in the same year’s “Ring on It,” a country-pop banger that turns a daunting milestone of adulthood into a salty-sweet self-affirmation.