ADAM WHITEHEAD

                                                                FT. LIV MCNAIR

                                                          "Sober Up For You" 

                                                           32South Label Group

Being an independent artist is certainly no easy task, but in many ways, it’s the climbing of the ladder to be seen and heard amongst the crowded scene that makes it so worth the fight when you finally do achieve milestone accomplishments.

Adam Whitehead has already experienced several of those accomplishments with his burgeoning career, including having charted on Billboard, Music Row’s Country Breakout Chart, and having nearly a #1 on iTunes in June 2020, all while continually building a tremendous, exuberant social media following.

However, the greatest success for Adam Whitehead may very well be the importance of his newest single “Sober Up For You,” a song that transparently takes us directly into the struggles of addiction, but also focuses on the importance of getting past those struggles to overcome them when you begin to understand how the people around you – including yourself - are affected by your decisions.  

Told from the third person point of view, by stating a name in the opening lines (Cody Hayes) Whitehead immediately gives this story a very personal connection and an ultra-real touch that draws you into the gravel tilt of his vocals, offering the perfect amount of rawness to strike the necessary emotional chord.

There’s an almost guilty, somewhat ashamed feeling that flows through the verses as he’s retelling the story of the past while also revealing all the different addictions that worked together to drive him to rock bottom: booze, sex, Percocet’s, and meth.

When featured artist Liv McNair slides in with her vocal, she changes the dynamic by elevating the song to reach an entirely different demographic when she moves the lyrics away from the vices that hold us, and instead, shifts toward the effects that an absent father has on a child growing up in a broken home due to his mistakes eliminating him from the family picture.

However, the true spotlight moment shines when a decisive change of emotion sings out through the chorus (and second verse) as Whitehead flips the script, pridefully singing of overcoming the grip that addiction has had, while also providing hopeful encouragement to anyone battling right now, “If I can clean up, you can clean up too. Don’t just sober up for you!”

Radio play is certainly important for any artist when it comes to making a huge leap, but then there are songs that are so much more important than radio airplay or charting success. Songs like “Sober Up For You,” which are geared toward touching the heart of the person who needs them most which can ultimately help them discover the positive changes within themselves that they need to make.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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