Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90s

Album: Southside (2020)
Charted: 32
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Songfacts®:

  • You young whippersnappers might not realize this, but there was a time when breaking up wasn't so hard to do. Here, Sam Hunt reflects on how the 1990s was an easier time to deal with a split.

    Back then, I could have convinced myself that maybe you called when I was out
    You didn't know what to say, so you didn't leave a message


    Yes, there were still pitfalls, but often you could imagine the person you once loved was just as brokenhearted as yourself. But a modern day split is much more difficult to deal with thanks to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. When the ex keeps posting photos showing how they've moved on from the romance, it adds to the heartbreak.

    I'm tired of gettin' drunk, tired of bein' free
    Tired of seein' pictures I don't wanna see
    Girl, you're everywhere, everywhere but behind me
    I bet breakin' up was easy in the '90s


    Sam Hunt is fed up with observing on social media that his former girlfriend is enjoying her life without him.
  • The song shares several similarities to Sam Hunt's 2014 hit "Break Up In A Small Town." Both were co-written with Zach Crowell (the two tracks also feature additional co-writers) and find Hunt embracing his penchant for speak-singing in the verses. Also, both have a theme of being unable to get away from a former lover.
  • Directed by Justin Clough, the video follows the story of a man starting life anew after being released from prison. He returns to his hometown but finds himself haunted by memories of a past girlfriend and is unsure of the path forward.
  • Speaking to Radio.com, Sam Hunt explained how the song delivers social commentary that speaks to the times. "My favorite line from that song is 'Modern love leads to modern hearts breaking. I'm just a product of my generation,'" he said. "It's just a fun kinda simple reflection on how much more difficult it is to be so connected - the downside of being so connected nowadays."
  • "Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90s" was among the last songs finished for Southside. "That was one that was written in the ninth hour," Hunt revealed. "And it turned out pretty cool I thought, so we included it on the record."
  • Songwriter Josh Osborne originally had the idea for "Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90s." He called Hunt one afternoon when the country star was driving home from Nashville and told him, "I feel like it sounds like you." Hunt loved the concept and several months later they rented a little cabin outside of town and wrote the song with Chris LaCorte, Ernest K. Smith and producer Zach Crowell.

Comments: 1

  • Bpkparksteve from Key WestSam was born in 1984. So if he broke up with someone in the 1999 he would have been 15
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