Texas Singer Tori Vasquez Makes Being an 'Asshole' Sound Pretty Good

Tori Vasquez is a singer and badass from the great city of Lubbock, Tejas, home to many a revered musician. (Most famously: you might have heard of Buddy Holly?) Locale and her family history—a line of literally seven generations of musicians—speaks to her sound, which is plaintive, straightforward, a little bit country, a little bit soul, a little bit rock and roll.

“Keep in Mind (A**hole)” is the latest, newly available single from her forthcoming album Go Thank Yourself, and the video is debuting here. Go Thank Yourself is an excellent album title, and probably should become all of our life mottos from now on. “We were thinking of the most positive way of saying, ‘Go fuck yourself,’ says Vasquez, via email. “A lot of anger from past times went into this album. I ended up looking back on it in a more balanced way after we wrote it.” A chorus of “I feel you girls” erupts in the peanut gallery; her steez is just relatable like that.

“Keep in Mind” is part of a cluster of songs Vasquez wrote during “Whiskey Sessions” with her friend and songwriting partner Shannon Smith. “There’s definitely a drunken demo of it stored away somewhere haha,” writes Vasquez. “Ninety-eight percent of this album was written in whiskey sessions. As far as the meaning behind the song goes, I was feeling pretty sassy at the time so we thought, ‘Why the hell not?’ I’m trying my hardest, like most people, to be as honest and upfront as I can be.”

On the bluesy main hook, she warbles, “keep in mind that I’m an asshole! It’s just that I’ve never had so much to deal with before,” which is about as real as you can get. But unlike other songs declaring the singers’ assholedom (Kanye is the first who comes to mind), she’s neither using the lyric as excuse or self-deprecation; she’s just stating a fact and letting herself live. Go thank yourself, Tori Vasquez.