Karin Ann Makes a Positive Out of a Negative with “You Make Me Miserable”

Hosting the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast every week, not to mention working with clients who make and perform music, and, with that, traveling back and forth to the likes of Nashville and Los Angeles, I have a front row seat for the challenges of writing a good song.

Time and again I hear songwriters talk about the many variables that go into creating something memorable that, hopefully, is going to have success and staying power.

In fact, I could argue that you don’t need me to write about how important it is to get it right when it comes to penning a good song.  For those in the music business, that’s almost a 101-type class.  In other words, you can call me Captain Obvious on this one.

So, then, let me instead point you to the latest example of something that I’ve recently heard that merits applause for a song that is representative of a job well done.

Although it was released July 1st, “You Make Me Miserable,” by Karin Ann, just came onto my radar approximately ten days ago.  And I like it!

At only 20 years old the Slovakian has 38-and-a-half thousand monthly listeners on Spotify for a reason.  While there's a definite 80's sound/influence with “You Make Me Miserable,” that's okay! It's nice to hear a new song that doesn't sound like everything else that's coming out these days in the pop genre or otherwise.



But, of course, we know that there are more ingredients than just a catchy melody for a song to fill out the recipe for success.

So then next pour in a dose of the fact that it's also great to hear someone get to the chorus 30 seconds into the song instead of dragging it out and making the listener wait too long.  This happens far too often and generally goes hand in hand with songs whose running times end up being unnecessarily long, which, by the way, is nowhere near the case here, coming in at less than three minutes.

Here’s another tasty little element seasoning this track.  I also like the arrangement for the transition out of the chorus into the second verse.

What's also really worth pointing out with this song (and applauding) is the fact that a song titled "You Make Me Miserable" and dealing with finding out someone you liked had a girlfriend the whole time, could be done up-tempo and not just another predictable, sad ballad.


While it DID have me curious to see what was done as the music video for this song too, it’s more that fact itself that’s a great result – sending the listener off to look for the song on YouTube – than what I ended up thinking about the video itself.  (For the record, it was just a compilation of live shots, which didn’t tell a story, but did, instead, introduce me further to this artist and showed me the big crowds she’s, not surprisingly, performing in front of.)

As of this writing, on Spotify alone, “You Make Me Miserable” has been streamed approximately 134 times in just four months.  The more that people like me write reviews like this about it, the more I know that number is going to continue to climb – quickly – and perhaps challenge three other tracks she has that have 211-, 361-, and 434-plus thousand streams.

Need help with your indie artist career?  Take advantage of my more than 18 years helping performers from around the U.S. by booking a video consultation with me.  We’ll have a confidential, one-on-one online chat to discuss where you are, what pain points you’re challenged with, and where you want to go.  It’s a private conversation aimed at keeping you moving forward.