Elle King’s America’s Sweetheart: A Review

I’m not a music critic, I don’t usually write reviews, and I may not know what I’m talking about.

I’ve been listening to music for as long as I can remember, and few songs have resonated with me as America’s Sweetheart has. And I think it’s for reasons that aren’t apparent the first few times you listen to the song. I’ll get right to the point: does anyone else think that America’s Sweetheart is an alcoholic’s anthem? Because I don’t think it’s a drinking anthem. It could be that, if not for a few key phrases. It’s clearly a song by a person who is a self-identifying high-functioning alcoholic. I have no idea if Elle King even drinks(ok, I looked, and apparently she does, a lot), but the person in the song clearly does. For the record, I want it to be completely clear that when I reference “she” or “her” in the song, I’m talking about the person in the song, not Elle herself. OK, now that that’s out of the way…

There are the obvious lines, like “I think it’s funny when I drink too much” and “my kind of medicine is whiskey straight,” but the more subtle lines are more telling. “Pour another glass of that rock ‘n roll” clearly references drinking. All those lines (and more) reference a person who drinks, but not necessarily a person with a drinking problem. That’s where we dig a little deeper into some of the lines that don’t reference alcohol, but the tendencies of an alcoholic to feel trapped in their situation. Just the opening lines, “No there ain’t nothing that I’ve got to prove, you think your words will make me black and blue,” indicates a person who automatically feels under attack. Like she’s doing something wrong just by existing, like there’s something she needs to make up for.

In my experience, alcoholics generally feel that other people are trying to change their behaviour. At least the most self-aware of them do. So when she trots out a line like “you try and change me you can go to hell,” I hear it as coming from a person who thinks people are constantly trying to change her behavior. Furthermore, “they don’t make posters of my kind of life” sounds like a person who is resigned that they can’t live a normal life.

On to the chorus, “What do you want from me?” Maybe nobody wants anything from you. Do you constantly feel like people want something from you? And is maybe that thing sobriety? Then that’s what they want from you.

Of course, I’ve saved the best for last. “Gonna lose control tonight” comes off to me as the mentality of a person who feels trapped in their behaviour and doesn’t think anything can change for them. Non-alcoholics just don’t plan to get so drunk they lose control. Just doesn’t happen. They may plan to drink enough to have fun, or maybe even “too much,” but they simply don’t set out to lose control.

I have no idea if Elle King is an alcoholic, or if she knows anyone who is, and I really don’t care. She can do her thing; it makes no difference to me. All I know is that I really like that song, and I hope she keeps making them.

My name is Andrew, and I am an alcoholic.