Sue Me

Album: Who's the Clown? (2026)
Charted: 115
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • After finding her footing as a songwriter collaborating with childhood best friend Gracie Abrams, Audrey Hobert stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with "Sue Me," a witty, shamelessly candid dance-pop anthem about reconnecting with an ex.

    "The song is about knowing that my ex-boyfriend was still in love with me, but being out at a party with him and deciding not to care whether or not sleeping with him was going to affect him negatively or lead him on, because I was in the mood," said Hobert.
  • Released on May 9, 2025, as the lead single from her debut album, Who's the Clown?, "Sue Me" quickly established the singer's irreverent artistic voice. Speaking to Billboard, Hobert said there was "never a world" in which she wouldn't be brash and bold in expressing herself. Though she knew some listeners might dismiss the song as "bad or stupid," she insisted it had to introduce her as an artist. Her reasoning was characteristically straightforward: "It's good because it's bad."
  • The song originated during one of Hobert's earliest writing sessions with her producer, Ricky Gourmet. The pair were talking in his kitchen about her recent encounter with her ex when Hobert casually blurted out the phrase, "Sue me, I wanna be wanted."

    She quickly realized it fit the melody they had been developing. "It was the fifth song I ever wrote alone and one of the first I made with my producer Ricky Gourmet," she told Cosmopolitan. "I was with Ricky the week after I had slept with my ex, who I knew still had feelings for me. I felt pretty bad about it, although it was a nice evening with him, because deep in my heart, I knew I didn't feel the same way."
  • Hobert also directed the song's music video. The clip shows the singer dancing with a joyful lack of self-consciousness alongside actor and professional clown Guilford Adams and producer Ricky Gourmet. Its homemade aesthetic grew out of a TikTok teaser campaign in which Hobert filmed herself in her bedroom dancing awkwardly to the track, allowing no more than three takes per clip. The result was intentionally imperfect, which in an era of carefully curated online personas felt almost rebellious.
  • "Sue Me" became Hobert's first Billboard chart hit when it debuted at #39 on the Pop Airplay chart in July 2025. The song received another boost roughly a year later when it appeared in Episode 6 of the Amazon Prime Video series Off Campus, soundtracking a scene between characters Allie and Dean.
  • Sue me, I wanna be sued

    When "Sue Me" was first released, fans mishearing the lyrics thought Hobert sang "Sue me, I wanna be sushi." The joke took hold and became an inside running gag in her fandom - fans quickly embraced "Sushis" as a nickname for themselves as a result. Hobert addressed the mishearing on TikTok, saying she was glad people heard "sushi" and not something she truly dislikes such as stewed tomatoes.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The Fratellis

The FratellisSongwriter Interviews

Jon Fratelli talks about the band's third album, and the five-year break leading up to it.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.