POP SONG REVIEW: "I Hope" by Gabby Barrett

My take is that "Before He Cheats" works so well because a) it's catchy as hell and b) it's cathartic. Slightly unhinged? Sure. but whomst among us hasn't wanted to get back at a cheating partner in a way that would hurt 'em the most? The premise of "I Hope" being entirely theoretical takes away a lot of its power. Additionally, I feel like once Carrie's done here, she's gotten it out of her system and she's not looking back. Gabby's gonna be stalking this dude on Facebook for the next 10 years obsessing over whether he's happy or not.

Stormy K.

""I Hope" you guys catch any mistakes on here" This is why we pay Todd the big bucks, folks

Sarah, the Creator

Ya that kinda kills the whole schadenfreude argument.

Brittany Rubinstein

I actually don't mind bro-country too much, believe it or not it actually helped me get into country music in general as that was previously a genre I very much disliked, but listening to the likes of Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Brantley Gilbert, etc helped me open my mind to other non-bro-Country artists as well, so there is a part of me that will miss that trend even if I absolutely understand why it's so despised.

RedBedroomRecords

I think this song is pretty decent overall, also the Charlie's Angels reboot kicks ass.

RedBedroomRecords

I had only listened to the Charlie Puth version and his verse was a little confusing but now I see that the woman in his scenario has already cheated and the relationship broke down- so why is he still hoping, he already got what he wanted?

Comet

There's a really choppy edit at 14:56. That said, it's nice to see a review of a current pop song again, Todd. Thanks!

when you started talking about the election i thought you were gonna bring up something about Gabby being a Trump supporter

Lennon Riley

This video is blocked in my country so i'm watching it here, excited

beau_d

I'm sure these constantly being taken down on youtube is super annoying, but on the bright side I joined the patreon as a result so you've got that going for you.

Guy Bransgrove

At least Charlie Puth has a slightly better haircut (slightly, it's dorky now). Seriously, slicking your hair back, IMHO, is now one of the greatest signs of douchebaggery in the modern world.

Lewis Lovhaug

I lost it at 12:28.

Carrie just had a punchier song.

Stephen Gillie

I like Before He Cheats. The melody and Carrie's voice sell it. But this one gets a meh. Great review - I'll never get tired of bashing bro country.

Beau Dure

I had heard the song on the radio a time or two, and not listening to the lyrics, had totally missed the point of the song, thinking, "Oh, that's sweet." And now I am sad.

Rish Outfield

The funny thing with this is that you brought up the election by the end... and missed that Gabby Barrett has been on the Trump train for a while with the conspiracy theory nonsense she tweeted all throughout this year. Surprising that punchline was missed, in an odd way...

Mark Grondin

Love that you used an establishing shot before the bartender skit!

Jacob Roth

No, I saw them too, mostly in the cuts to music videos.

Shiny Skunk

I'd never heard the song before this video, didn't know anything about the singer, and haven't thought about Carrie Underwood in years, but as soon as the song twist was revealed I started thinking of the song as "Before He Cheats" Lite, before you even mentioned Underwood. What are examples of good revenge songs? I'm sure I know some, but I'm drawing a blank.

SweetAgnostis

Yeah, that's fair, I think I'll do that before it goes up on YouTube. Part of it is that the song is just not mixed well

Todd in the Shadows

I know what you're talking about, and I consciously didn't include it. I don't know why I feel this way and I'm not sure it stands up to scrutiny but part of me just feels that it's not fair game. Seems invasive to me; I don't know, I'm not Perez Hilton or anything. I could hear a case otherwise though

Todd in the Shadows

14:55 - There's like two frames of a new shot from the MV before it swaps back to Todd, so I'm assuming the cut was a bit delayed 15:08 - footage glitch... I SWEAR there was one other earlier on the I Hope footage in the first half of the vid, but I cannot find it scrubbing through again

Miriarra

Did not realize this was even supposed to be a country song. I only ever hear that Charlie Puth version on the (top 40) radio.

MJS

I hadn't heard the second verse until this video because my local radio stations have exclusively played the Charlie Puth version

Athena Alexandra

I'm not a fan of either song, but I do think "I Hope" works better than "Before He Cheats" simply because of the framing. In "Before He Cheats", it's not 100 percent clear even in-universe that the guy Underwood is singing about is actually cheating, or that he's even her boyfriend to begin with (this might all be a fucked-up stalker-with-a-crush situation). Whatever "I Hope"'s other flaws, at least the situation is presented as completely unambiguous, which is elemental for building a good, solid revenge fantasy. "Before He Cheats" ruins that with all the "probably"'s it throws in its verses.

Timur Hahn

The first time I heard this song I thought it was Carrie Underwood! So yeah, that comparison isn’t going anywhere!

Todd Crego

I’m ecstatic that you made a reference to BARTENDER SONG BY REHAB of all the things, cause for years I thought I was the only person who knew it because of its intense overplay on Sirius Hits 1 back in 2008 —- But you gotta go back and edit in the uncensored version

The Hand Of The People

I am so over pointless "remixes" that add another singer to a song with no real purpose! Charlie Puth makes no sense on this song. If they wrote new lyrics so he could sing from the guy's perspective maybe that would have worked but no, he just sings her words. On the flipside, while both versions of this song leave me cold I am really here for more women being popular in country music again!

Vanessa Picard

This is what I thought too.

Wow... I hadn't heard this song at all until now. I was never a fan of Carrie's Before He Cheats, so I doubt I'll care for this one either. Great video though :)

KBucky

I spotted some video glitches, but it might just be on my end...

The Hobbyist’s Stocking

I’m a little surprised to hear the take on it that comes from a place of Gabby having spent way too much time thinking about how she wants the guy to hurt, because when I first heard the song personally, I really thought she was singing about how it had supposedly gone between the guy and herself. Like it came across to me that he himself was someone she fell head over heels for, dropped all her plans for, told her friends how happy she was over, got cheated on, forgave him and tried to work it out, and then got cheated on again in a second devastating heartbreak. If she’s singing that she wants him to hurt exactly like she did, I feel it makes sense that this was word for word what their own situation had been? And that the song is a way to vent all that hurt and get the awful details out in the open and at the same time, saying that she hopes he doesn’t get away with it in the form of having the same thing come back to him.

Can you add subtitles to the clips from the song? She has one of those voices where it’s hard to make out what she’s saying

Cameron Cook

Gabby Barrett sings like she's permanently drunk, which is unfortunate because she (a) is not old enough to legally drink, and (b) probably has never been drunk because she's a happy clapper.

me

It may not be all that great as a song, but I do think 2020 needed a song like this. Sometimes you just need to scream out every angry, petty thing you've ever felt towards someone you hate, bam that's the song.

Julian

I was just thinking how badly I needed a new Todd. Thanks for delivering. Great stuff.

GregD

Personally for me this song only works by cursing the ex to some kind of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ situation with those multiple situations.

Sarah Parker-Shemilt

I love a good revenge song! And I love a good ‘I’m gonna commit murder’ song from female country singers

Exquisite Williams

I havent watched it yet, but I am glad to see I can predict what Todd will find as singles with enough material for an episode. I knew he was gonna make an episode out of it once Puth joined the song

On another note, the covers at the end of One Hit Wonderland episodes are so fascinating, I wish you'd put a link to them in the descriptions or list the artist covering

Taylor Abrahamse

Great episode! The bar stuff was hysterical. Revenge songs are such a tricky subject, I tend to hate songs like this that confuse petty revenge fantasies for female empowerment... that confuse venting for being 'strong' and 'justified'. Only thought: Whats the song referenced at 8:38? I'm not clear about the revenge angle in it from the lyric I hear there.

Taylor Abrahamse

Honestly, when Toby Keith showed up and THEN you brought up the election, I really thought you were gonna bring up what people found in her twitter likes.......

ImADudeDuh

5:26 - really weird edit here, you fade the song but then there's like a 5 second delay before it switches back to you

Crow

I love this song so much, I bursted out laughing when I first heard it

Curtis Charles