Pamela Hopkins isn’t right here on your approval. She’s not ready on your permission, your nod, your co-sign. On “Me Being Me,” the Arkansas-based singer-songwriter lets free a gut-punching declaration of self, turning vulnerability into venom and heartbreak into warmth. Taken from her critically acclaimed album Lord Is aware of I Ain’t No Saint, the one arrives with bruised knuckles, a shot glass stuffed with reality, and one of the unflinching vocal performances of her profession.
The monitor, penned by Nashville stalwarts Vickie McGehee, D. Vincent Williams, and the late Jim Femino, carries the defiant spirit of outlaw nation and injects it with a contemporary surge of feminine rage and resilience. It’s a Southern-fried anthem for anybody who’s ever been informed to tone it down, smile fairly, or shrink themselves for another person’s consolation. Hopkins doesn’t simply reject these notions — she steamrolls them.
“In the event you don’t like what you see, I don’t know what you need me to inform you, darlin’. That’s simply me. Me being me.” That’s the refrain, positive, nevertheless it’s additionally a mission assertion — a line that hits like a boot heel in opposition to a neon-lit stage flooring. Hopkins sells it with the form of grit that may’t be taught, solely earned. Her vocals are smoky and commanding, lower with sufficient blues to really feel lived-in and simply sufficient fireplace to be sure you don’t overlook who’s in cost.
The manufacturing is modern however by no means sterile, staying rooted within the traditions of nation whereas flirting with the perspective of rock. Electrical guitars weave round regular percussion, giving Hopkins the room to soar and snarl. There’s swagger right here, nevertheless it’s balanced with substance — the form of sonic center floor the place basic meets up to date and the road between honky-tonk and enviornment stage disappears.
However what offers “Me Being Me” its deeper resonance is the story behind it. Hopkins first heard the monitor from Jim Femino himself — in a hospital mattress, no much less. A mentor and collaborator, Femino performed her the demo from that room, and Hopkins sat with it for years earlier than lastly recording it. That endurance, that care, exhibits. The track doesn’t really feel rushed or fabricated. It feels worn, actual, and rooted in connection. In some ways, it’s a tribute to Femino’s legacy, nevertheless it’s additionally a declaration of Hopkins’ evolution.
Pamela Hopkins has spent years constructing her popularity as a pressure on the unbiased nation circuit — a powerhouse vocalist with a penchant for straight-shooting lyrics and fearless performances. With “Me Being Me,” she ranges up once more, not simply delivering a standout monitor, however anchoring a private reality in one thing listeners can scream alongside to in their very own rearview mirrors.
At a time when a lot of nation radio performs it protected, Hopkins takes the street much less paved. She doesn’t sanitize the mess or apologize for the chaos. As an alternative, she lets it roar. And in doing so, she reminds us that essentially the most highly effective form of nation music is the sort that dares to inform the reality — loud, proud, and unshakably human.
–Stone Roberts
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