Pat McAfee’s Country Album Has a Fundamental Problem: ‘The Diary of a Polarizing Figure’ Review

Pat McAfee would be better on a record label. That's not something many music critics have ever said about an artist or an "artist," but it's true for the NFL kicker-turned-TV-broadcaster.

• Pat McAfee released his debut album The Diary of a Polarizing Figured on Friday (Aug. 14).
• It comes after he released a 90-second song called "Dookie" in 2025.
• The album is for fans of Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen and Breaking Rust.

His debut album would benefit from unbiased feedback. The Diary of a Polarizing Figured needed opinions from another with something to lose. To be blunt, this scattered debut would have been much better as an EP.

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Skip to "Good Times" for an example. This radio-ready rocker has Luke Bryan "Country Girl" vibes. "I wanna small town / And an old dirt road / I wanna crick bank / Where the water rolls slow," he sings during the first verse.

Honestly, the song is a jam even if it is generic. Bryan, Jason Aldean and a dozen more country men would crush it in 2026 — he should have passed it along and taken publishing credits.

The problem is it's hard to believe McAfee when he says he wants a crick bank and an old dirt road. It doesn't pass the eye test or the ear test.

Track No. 7 is "Oops" and he sings,"I used to not have shit, now I got a bidet."

That feels more authentic than any of his cliche yearnings on tracks like "Pitbull & a Mugshot."

McAfee wrote 13 of the 14 songs by himself and tapped Ernest for the other. As a lyricist, he's strong. Not only does he show a great understanding of song structure, he drops some sick rhymes. The quasi-title track "Polarizing Figure" is an example.

"All of us so gullible, all of it’s combustible / Stories out of context from folks considered trustable / They’re reckless with their narratives / Searching for comparatives / Eliminate disruptor, to them it feels imperative," he sings.

Pat McAfee - The Diary Of A Polarizing Figure

If you're reading that and thinking Eminem, you're on the right track. There is a decided hip-hop influence across the record that fits his bravado. In fact, sonically the Diary of ... is reasonably dynamic. That's important because McAfee is a flat vocalist.

At his best he's leaning in to what makes him controversial. "Smokin'" is about, well smoking. "Young Me" is a puff-up speech to his teenage self. Both work incredibly well even if they don't carry a Top 40 radio beat.

Undercutting that is this question of which McAfee is the real McAfee. "Polarizing Figure" asks for sympathy ("Am I blessed or am I cursed / Am I the best or the worst," he asks) while "Oops" and "Outlaw" lash out unapologetically. Imagine if he tried to play both these roles on his TV show.

A tight, five-song EP would have introduced McAfee as a talented songwriter with some amount of musical talent. At 14 songs, the album overshares.