HANNAH ELLIS - Karma On The Rocks - Curb Records

Though Hannah Ellis has been making very solid noise since the release of her self-titled EP in 2017, she elevated her buzzworthy status to even greater heights with “Country Can” and has consistently kept it humming throughout 2023 with “Someone Else’s Heartbreak” and “Wine Country.”

While her latest is still earning heavy rotation at radio and holding tightly to its charting position, she now strikes while the proverbial iron’s hot with her brand-new single, “Karma On The Rocks.”

As the backbeat pumps through the moodiness of the verse, Ellis carries a confident sass into the told you so essence of the lyric, perfectly matching her tonality against the shrugging shoulder’s vibe of the kiss-off melody.

“A little birdy told me that you’d be here tonight” she begins, wearing a sly grin while saddling her barstool for her front row seat to watching her heartbreaker wallow in the sting of the broken heart that he’s had coming to him.

Confessing that she’s been waiting for this moment since he left her high and dry, while slicing him with a knowing punch of “bet it’s a little bitter when it hits your lips” and “you finally got a taste of your own medicine,” she twists the dagger even deeper as she strikes the told you so atmosphere of the chorus:

“Tell me does it burn going down, down, down

Baby look whose hearts broken now, now, now

You got what you deserve and there ain’t no doubt

Guess what goes around comes around, round, round

Have another sip already had your shot

Nice to see you drinkin’ karma on the rocks”

She injects a small-town aura with a sprinkling of its grapevine gossip by referencing what she’s already heard about the inevitable break up with the girl after her, while cleverly embracing several drinking references to accent the hook and give the song its memorable touches, turning it into a power anthem chalk full of moving on spite and glad to see you go feels.

Hannah Ellis continues to break out further with each new song she releases, striking the right chord with the modern country audience while flavoring a nod to the flare of the strong female tradition of the genre through her addictive vocal styling.

She’s certainly done that again with “Karma On The Rocks,” showcasing her amazing abilities in taking the familiarity of a message that has been done time and time again in country music, shaping it in such a uniquely branded way that it’s fresh and exciting and makes you want to hit repeat.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)