Sarah Johns – “He Hates Me”
Sarah Johns’ sultry and traditional country voice deserves better material than she’s recorded thus far. Her debut single, “The One in the Middle,” was a rather stupid ditty about flipping off an erstwhile lover, but at least it was catchy and fun. In “He Hates Me,” Johns is the one on the receiving end of another’s scorn. Her vocal performance is strong, but the lyric is the weakest that I’ve heard in some time.
The writers (Johns, Tim Nichols and Jason Sellers) resort to cliches in an attempt to create some kind of backstory. All this builds to the ridiculous declaration, “Yeah I love him wanna have his babies / the only problem is, he hates me.” That line would be painful enough if Johns was describing an ex-husband, but it’s just silly considering that Johns is describing the man she met in a bar last night. Even worse is the conclusion: “We could be honeymooning south of the border / If he’d just drop that restraining order.” Please.
Sarah has the vocal ability to make it in country music. What both her single releases and debut album lack are material worthy of her talent. Perhaps Johns needs to abandon most of her self-written material and explore the diversity that the Nashville songwriting community has to offer.
Listen: Sara Johns – “He Hates Me”
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January 5, 2008 at 11:48 pm Permalink
I bought Sarah’s CD the day it was released and it came with a customer survey card you had to go online to fill out. Besides asking for basic demographic info for market research purposes there were questions of “Which song is your favorite?” and “Which song do you think would make a good radio single?”. It was a novel thing, but it was fun to give the record label some input as normally they are very insular.
Sarah was on the Grand Ole Opry a couple months ago and at that time stated that her second single would be the title cut from the album “Big Love In a Small Town”, which I think is by far the best cut on the album. Something happened since then and recently in interviews she began saying “He Hates Me” would be the new single, a decision I rate as being as foolish as choosing “The One In The Middle” to be the first single. “Big Love” is dang near a perfect country song except that the opening instrumental refrain should only repeat two times, not three as it delays the vocal intro too long. “Big Love” has the kind of message female mainstream radio listeners would embrace, while “He Hates Me” is yet another novelty song which many listeners will find offputting. Most new artists are lucky to get two singles on the radio to determine whether the label will continue to support them, and Sarah’s singles have been disastrous choices. At least her CD was released, unlike Ashley Monroe, Amy Dalley, Sarah Buxton, Susan Haynes, Bomshel, Amber Dotson, The Jenkins, Lane Turner, Kerry Harvick, Lauren Lucas, Katrina Elam’s “Turn Me Up”, Shannon Brown’s “Tour of My Heart”, and on and on……..
February 5, 2008 at 6:56 pm Permalink
I like Sara Johns. I purchased her album after seeing her open for George Strait, and my favorite song on the album is Muddy Water. I see the choice for singles as very similar to the type of songs that Gretchen Wilson made so popular. They’re not meant to be taken too seriously. I see Sara Johns as a cross between Gretchen Wilson and Sara Evans. I wish her success in her new career.
December 29, 2008 at 1:17 pm Permalink
Sara Johns has more talent then anyone singing in Nashville or anywhere else for that matter. After seeing her perform at Rupp Arena opening for George Strait, I knew she would be H-U-G-E!!! She’s amazing and has the nicest personality even with her incredible talent and beauty!!! She never lets anything go to her head! I love the song “He Hates Me” and my favorite is “A Lot To Let Go Of”. Anyone that hears those songs should know what an amazing voice that she has and what a star she is!
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