Thursday, April 9, 2020 — 5
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MCA NASHVILLE

MUSIC REVIEW

If you were a country music fan in 2014, 

you either loved, or loved to hate, Sam Hunt. 

His unabashed devotion to mashing R&B 

into country music and his clean cut, city-boy 

image made for scathing fan debate fodder. 

Whether you sang along to his clever twists 

of phrasing out loud or under your breath, 

Hunt’s music was unavoidable. Nearly every 

track on his debut album Montevallo became 

a hit. Then, for the most part, he disappeared. 

Hunt’s 
return 
with 

his sophomore effort 

Southside 
finds 
him 

with some explaining 

to do and with the 

potential 
to 
become 

even more divisive.

Despite 
having 

nearly six years to put 

it together, Southside 

is 
incredibly 
messy. 

Following up a massive 

success 
is 
tricky 

enough, and Hunt’s lack 

of commitment to any 

particular 
direction 

only exacerbates the 

problem. The result is a Frankenstein’s 

monster of an album. Not only are there 

chunks of country, pop and R&B, but songs 

released in years past have been haphazardly 

sewn onto the body of work as well. The 

project is falling apart at the seams; Southside 

feels like it’s trying to separate into two 

different albums.

The album opener “2016” is promisingly 

subdued. Hunt retraces the choices he made 

that year, now wishing he could “put the 

whiskey back in the bottle / put the smoke 

back in the joint” and devote all of 2016 to his 

longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend (now 

wife), Hannah. It’s refreshing. Hunt swaps 

his cool guy persona and heavy reliance 

on hip-hop beats for an honest, apologetic 

country sound. Logistically, “2016” is a 

useful explanation for why Southside took so 

long. Hunt has struggled a lot with fame and 

preserving his relationship — experiences 

that should amount to a substantive album.

That’s why the next track and current 

single “Hard to Forget” 

is such a let down. It’s 

irritatingly 
catchy 

radio candy. Listening 

through 
the 
album, 

one 
can’t 
help 
but 

feel duped. For every 

glimmer of hope that a 

mature and grounded 

Sam Hunt will emerge, 

there’s a song like the 

patronizing “That Ain’t 

Beautiful” that dashes 

it. The potential for a 

self-aware, 
growth-

centered album peeks 

through in Southside, 

but so does an album that’s merely trying to 

replicate his earlier Montevallo — and Hunt’s 

indecision leaves him with neither.

One throughline in Southside is that 

country fans’ genre quarrels have clearly 

gotten 
under 
Hunt’s 
skin. 
Traditional 

country instrumentation has been lathered 

over top of this R&B-driven record a bit 

unevenly. On the tail end of the otherwise 

pop heavy “Young Once,” the listener catches 

a fiddle solo. “Hard to Forget” samples the 

1953 country song “There Stands the Glass” 

by Webb Pierce. “Let It Down” pulls off 

the country R&B combination best. Hunt 

talk-raps until the chorus bursts into a 

recognizably country riff complete with 

pedal steel, dobro and banjo. 

For all of Southside’s identity crises, the 

album’s biggest head-scratcher is its inclusion 

of the track “Body Like a Back Road,” 

which was a hit two years ago. Alongside 

“Downtown’s Dead,” another single from 

2018, these tracks feel like zombies on a 

project that’s supposed to breathe new life 

into Hunt’s artistry. That’s why “Breaking 

Up Was Easy in the 90’s” elicits a sigh of 

relief. The social media savvy break up 

anthem confirms that Hunt still has it. “It” 

being the ability to smooth-talk his way into 

an infectious just-barely-country song. 

The only forgivable inclusion of an old 

Hunt song is the album closer “Drinkin’ 

Too Much.” Like “2016,” this song has 

shock-value. “I’m sorry I named the album 

Montevallo,” Hunt confesses, Montevallo 

being the name of his wife’s hometown. He 

goes on to detail their rocky relationship, 

then calls her out by name, even though he 

acknowledges that she wants her privacy. It’s 

painful and raw and unfair. Still, “Drinkin’ 

Too Much” holds the key to why Hunt’s 

country rap experiment worked in the first 

place — the genres intersect in brutally 

honest storytelling. 

With Southside, Hunt holds onto his 

titles: the first mainstream country rapper, 

the most controversial artist in Nashville 

and, yes, the “Drake of country music.” But 

he’s sloppy about it. Hopefully it won’t take 

another six years for him to get a little more 

vulnerable.

Sam Hunt’s ‘Southside’ is a monster of an album

KATIE BEEKMAN

Daily Arts Writer

FILM NOTEBOOK
Revisiting Hollywood and Bollywood, side by side

SABRIYA IMAMI

Daily Arts Writer

I grew up watching Bollywood movies. I sang the 

songs even though I didn’t know what I was saying, 

I did the dances despite the fact that I couldn’t (and 

still can’t) dance and I watched the stories unfold 

onscreen, enthralled by the colors, the music and the 

beauty. It wasn’t until I was older, maybe a teenager, 

when my mom burst my naive childhood perception 

of Bollywood by saying: “You know these are all 

copies of American movies, right?” No. I did not 

know that. However, once I came to that realization 

and began watching some of those American movies, 

I was shocked by how similar they were. I decided 

to rewatch some of these Hollywood and Bollywood 

pairings to compare them and see just how similar 

they were once placed side by side.

“Hitch” (2005) and “Partner” (2007)

“Partner” is by far the most obvious remake of 

its Hollywood counterpart, “Hitch.” Both feature 

a “cool guy” who fixes up a “not-so-cool guy” with 

the girl of his dreams even though she’s way out 

of his league, while simultaneously falling in love 

himself. I mean, there are some scenes that are 

exact recreations of the original: the boardroom 

scene, the whistling scene, even the scene where 

Albert (Kevin James, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”) sprays 

water on his pants is exactly copied in “Partner” 

when the same thing happens to Bhaskar (Govinda, 

“Happy Ending”). The two films are so similar that 

the creators of “Hitch” may have threatened suit 

against the creators of “Partner.” 

There are some differences though, I’ll admit. 

For example, I don’t recall a five-minute segment of 

a missile chasing Alex (Will Smith, “Men in Black”) 

on a jet ski in “Hitch,” do you? Well, that did happen 

to Prem (Salman Khan, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”) in 

“Partner.” There also isn’t a mob boss who’s after 

Sara (Eva Mendes, “The Other Guys”) in “Hitch,” 

though there is one after Naina (Lara Dutta, “Don 

2”). Despite the shocking similarities — and some 

glaring differences — “Partner” is much less refined 

than “Hitch.” Salman Khan cringily swaggers 

as a “love guru,” whereas Will Smith confidently 

strides in his role of the “date doctor.” Kevin James 

thoughtfully pauses in his character’s attempt to 

win over Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta, “Gamer”), 

but Govinda thoughtlessly obsesses in his pursuit of 

Priya Jaisingh (Katrina Kaif, “Dhoom 3”). 

The characters in “Partner” feel like caricatures 

compared to their more mature and believable 

Hollywood counterparts. The whole film is a little 

ridiculous, complete with awful special effects and 

scenes that leave you in jaw-dropped horror due 

to the sheer awkwardness unfolding on screen. 

However, I’ll admit: It’s hilarious. 

“When Harry Met Sally” (1989) and “Hum 

Tum” (“Me and You,” 2004)

I know that there’s a Bollywood movie called 

“When Harry Met Sejal” that is a more obvious 

remake of the classic rom-com “When Harry Met 

Sally,” but “Hum Tum” is definitely the original 

remake. Similar to “When Harry Met Sally,” “Hum 

Tum” follows two characters who run into each 

other many times over the course of their lives 

until they fall in love. Not surprising in Bollywood, 

though, “Hum Tum” is much more unnecessarily 

dramatic than “When Harry Met Sally.” There 

were even parts of “Hum Tum” that my mom used 

to skip because she thought it would be too sad for 

us to watch. Another difference between the two 

films is that “Hum Tum” has a cartoon aspect in 

it; Karan’s (Saif Ali Khan, “Kal Ho Naa Ho”) comic 

book characters Hum and Tum fight and debate 

often on whether or not girls and boys can be just 

friends, which is of course, a common topic for 

debate in “When Harry Met Sally.” 

The relationship between Rhea (Rani Mukerji, 

“Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”) and Karan is a little more 

chaotic than Harry (Billy Crystal, “Forget Paris”) 

and Sally’s (Meg Ryan, “Sleepless in Seattle”), too. 

They “meet” more times and face more difficulties 

than their Hollywood versions because they don’t 

become friends for a while. And when they do 

become friends, Karan tries to set Rhea up with one 

of his friends, not realizing that she likes him. All in 

all, it is very dramatic. I won’t lie, though: Maybe it’s 

because I watched “Hum Tum” before I watched 

“When Harry Met Sally,” or maybe it’s because 

“Hum Tum” has some really great songs, but I like 

“Hum Tum” more. That might be blasphemous to 

Hollywood traditionalists, but I honestly don’t care. 

“John Tucker Must Die” (2006) and “Ladies 

vs. Ricky Bahl” (2011)

“John Tucker Must Die” is probably one of 

the best examples of a cliche high school rom-

com. There’s a basketball star, a cheerleader, a shy 

nobody … basically all the essentials. “Ladies vs. 

Ricky Bahl” isn’t quite like that, I’ll admit, but there 

are some huge similarities, the most prominent 

being that there are three girls who team up and 

recruit a fourth girl to get revenge on a guy. The 

biggest difference, though? In “John Tucker Must 

Die,” the male protagonist is a high school playboy, 

and in “Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl” the guy is a high-

stakes conman. So in “John Tucker,” the girls 

want revenge on John (Jesse Metcalfe, “Christmas 

Under the Stars”) because he was cheating on all 

three of them at the same time, but in “Ricky Bahl” 

the girls want to con Ricky to get their money back 

from him. 

These movies aren’t the exact same — that’s 

clear. But the endings of the films are probably 

what set them apart the most. “John Tucker” ends 

with Kate (Brittany Snow, “Pitch Perfect”) parting 

somewhat amicably with John Tucker and moving 

on to a different love interest, whereas “Ricky Bahl” 

closes with Ishika (Anushka Sharma, “Band Baja 

Baaraat”) and Ricky (Ranveer Singh, “Band Baja 

Baaraat”) beginning a genuine, con-free romantic 

relationship. These movies may be pretty different, 

but they’re similar enough that it’s hard not to draw 

comparisons between them. However, I’ll admit: 

“John Tucker Must Die” has that iconic rom com 

appeal which makes it a little more enjoyable and 

lighthearted than “Ricky Bahl.”

“Dead 
Poets 
Society” 
(1989) 
and 

“Mohabbatein” (“Love Stories,” 2000)

When I found out that people compared “Dead 

Poets Society” and “Mohabbatein,” I wasn’t sure 

that I agreed. After watching the films, I’m still 

not totally sure that I do. However, there are some 

obvious similarities that you can’t ignore. In both 

films, there is a teacher who has unconventional 

ideas and changes the lives of his students by 

teaching them to defy conformity. In “Dead 

Poets Society,” Mr. Keating (Robin Williams, 

“Mrs. Doubtfire”) teaches his students about 

individuality through literature and poetry … but 

in true Bollywood fashion, Raj Aryan (Shah Rukh 

Khan, “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”) teaches his 

students about individuality through music and 

love. That isn’t entirely surprising, given the fact 

that the title “Mohabbatein” literally means “love 

stories.” “Dead Poets Society” is an incredible, 

meaningful film that has you sobbing by the end, 

but “Mohabbatein” is not even close to that. It’s 

three and a half hours of cheesy, forced love stories 

and very few good songs, which is what really 

makes it a Bollywood disappointment to me.

‘Southside’

Sam Hunt

MCA Nashville Records

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

