Today Iowa-born, Nashville-based country singer Hailey Whitters has shared a delightful new music video for her great song “Janice at the Hotel Bar,” which we named one of the best songs of 2020 so far.
“Janice at the Hotel Bar” recounts an actual run-in Whitters experienced with a wise elderly woman who swears by drugstore beauty products, vodka instead of dessert and quality coffee. Janice is full of good advice (plus golden-nugget truths like “All men are babies / and that’s just how they roll”), and this whimsical music video captures her spirit—as well as the collective energy of the shared female experience. Erica Silverman directed the video in partnership with creative director Harper Smith, and it was filmed on location in Austin, Texas.
“Given that this song was based on a real encounter with an 80-something-year-old woman named Janice, we felt it was important to keep it as rich visually as it is lyrically,” Whitters says. “Erica and Harper were able to capture the individual eccentricities that make up the collective female experience in living a life well-lived.”
Watch the video for “Janice at the Hotel Bar” below. Further down, revisit Whitters’ 2019 Paste Studio session.
