Hailey Whitters has a new record dropping TONIGHT at midnight.
Her third studio album, Raised, promises to be one of the best of the year, and I can’t wait to hear all seventeen songs on the tracklist, especially that duet with American Aquarium on “Middle Of America”.
With this big release right around the corner, I wanted to take a look back at a song from her 2020 second studio album, The Dream, and a song called “Janice at the Hotel Bar”.
I could honestly never say enough good things about this song. Especially as a women, it’s all such solid advice and every word resonates so deeply. Written by Hailey along with her friend and frequent co-writer Lori McKenna, it’s a real-life how-to penned poetically-and it will hit you where it hurts.
Janice is a real person, and it comes through quite obviously in the lyrics. We need more Janices in the world… she’s a real badass, and you’ll want to be her best friend once you listen to this song.
I mean, Hailey comes out swinging with some of Janice’s little pearls of wisdom from the very first verse on:
“She believes in face cream at the Walgreens and ruby-red lips
She’d take a vodka over dessert, sugar goes straight to your hips
And she don’t smoke cigarettes ’cause it ain’t lady-like
She’ll cuss like a sailor, she ain’t afraid to fight
She mows her own lawn and talks on her landline
She’s got a granddaughter, still single, can’t say she’s surprised
Eats sardines by the can and berries from a vine
Be careful with the truth, girl, but don’t you ever lie”
Hailey even told Songfacts that Janice has heard the song before, and she’s a huge fan:
“She lives in Jersey and has heard the song. When we released the song, everyone started hashtagging #FindJanice, and her granddaughter reached out.
She commented on my social media and said, ‘I’m Janice’s granddaughter, I’m with her right now and she loves the song.'”
I find myself going back to this track often, and it’s one of my all-time favorite’s… and if you aren’t all that familiar with Hailey’s music yet, that’s all about to change after Raised.
Back in 2019, she did a fantastic live performance of “Janice” at Paste Studios in New York City that you absolutely need to see:
She released the lead single from Raised, “Everything She Ain’t”, back in January:
RAISED tracklist:
