Jenny Tolman isn’t here for your hate. Her new song, “Invent a T-Shirt,” released on Friday (Oct. 2), is made to get you to laugh — at yourself, preferably.
“I’m all about folks speakin’ their mind / Or puttin’ something clever on a picket sign / But speakin’ that mind requires for you to at least have one,” Tolman sings in the second verse. “But more importantly, we all could start / Lookin’ at the world with a grateful heart / And eat the good apples and just toss out the bad ones.”
Fast fiddle and a rollicking melody back Tolman as she professes each chorus, “I hate haters / I love lovers / And I don’t really care about people who don’t really care / I hate haters / I love lovers / And you’re free to kiss, or not kiss, my derrière.”
“We all need to stick a pin in our tension balloons and take a second to laugh at ourselves,” Tolman says in a press release. “I felt like someone needed to come out and say, ‘HOLD UP! We have all gone a little crazy, and that’s okay, but let’s just acknowledge it and stop being jerks to each other, please!'”
Tolman penned “Invent a T-Shirt” with Dave Brainard, her producer, and Bill Whyte, inspired by old-school country humorists including Shel Silverstein and Roger Miller. ”I began to think if I can make people laugh, which is what I love most, I can make them feel comfortable,” she tells American Songwriter. “And then once they’re comfortable, they’re way more open to listening to what you have to say and the actual message of the song.”
“Invent a T-Shirt” follows Tolman’s 2019 album There Goes the Neighborhood, the response to which, she admitted late last year, was a “whirlwind.” The record tells the stories of the folks of Jennyville, an imaginary town full of a cast of true characters, with an overarching uplifting message.
“The whole album is centered around being positive, and funny, and sexy, and beautiful — a powerful woman,” Tolman told The Boot upon the project’s release. “Even the songs that are vulnerable have a strength to them, and an understanding that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
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