Abbey Cone 'Hate Me' EP Review

Valory Music Co. singer-songwriter Abbey Cone has released her debut assemblage Hate Me. The EP is spun in a web of devotion, self-sufficiency, hometown roots, and everything that’s felt in between.

The six-song introductory project kicks off with a heart-wrenching honest ballad about the hard truth of falling back into a rhythm with somebody you shouldn’t be - and the exact reason why you shouldn’t be in the same place at the same time as them. Cone sings, “You smoke, I drink / We’d laugh / We’d think / ‘Bout all the ways that we could break this / tension / I’m drunk, you drive / Stay up, all night / Even though we both know how it’s ending / There’s something ‘bout four walls and a heart / They don’t stop falling once they start, yeah / That’s what we’d do / Too much, too soon / That’s why I can’t be in a room with you.”

Perfectly hand-crafted “King Of The World” carefully trails the opening song with a sense of lyricism exclusively matured by Cone. Written with Aaron James Babcock and Pete Good, this tongue-in-cheek portrayal encompasses a conventional country landscape allowing the singer-songwriter’s vocals to radiate.

“Rhinestone Ring” is glistened with a lovesick gloss and cherried with simplicity. The song saw the light of day ahead of Hate Me’s official release date and is romanticized through its mid-tempo, piece-by-piece instrumentation. The songstress sings, “I’d marry you right now with a rhinestone ring.”

“The One” is derived from a fear of commitment while “Thought About You” is another song drenched in heartache lyrically, but boasts a more pop-leaning soundscape.

HATE ME closes out with the title track and pulls the entire six-song collection together. Cone has an excellent sense of play on words. She exclaims, "If you don’t love me, I hope that you hate me / Say we broke up ‘cause you think that, I’m crazy / Take us back tell me that you regret it / But baby just don’t you forget it / If you talk shit then, I hope it’s about me / Cause at least boy you still talk about me / And the truth is you feelin’ somethin’ / Is better than you feelin’ nothin’ / If you don’t love me, I hope that you hate me.”

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