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 unfastened 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 only arrives with bruised knuckles, a shot glass stuffed with fact, and one of the crucial unflinching vocal performances of her profession.
The observe, 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 advised to tone it down, smile fairly, or shrink themselves for another person’s consolation. Hopkins doesn’t simply reject these notions — she steamrolls them.
“For those who don’t like what you see, I don’t know what you need me to let you know, darlin’. That’s simply me. Me being me.” That’s the refrain, positive, however it’s additionally a mission assertion — a line that hits like a boot heel in opposition to a neon-lit stage ground. Hopkins sells it with the sort of grit that may’t be taught, solely earned. Her vocals are smoky and commanding, minimize with sufficient blues to really feel lived-in and simply sufficient hearth 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 angle of rock. Electrical guitars weave round regular percussion, giving Hopkins the room to soar and snarl. There’s swagger right here, however it’s balanced with substance — the sort of sonic center floor the place traditional meets up to date and the road between honky-tonk and area stage disappears.
However what provides “Me Being Me” its deeper resonance is the story behind it. Hopkins first heard the observe 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 persistence, 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, however it’s additionally a declaration of Hopkins’ evolution.
Pamela Hopkins has spent years constructing her status as a power on the impartial 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 observe, however anchoring a private fact 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 probably the most highly effective sort of nation music is the sort that dares to inform the reality — loud, proud, and unshakably human.
–Stone Roberts
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