Amy-Jo – Caught Me on a Bad Day

Few artists create catchier choruses than Amy-Jo. The final song to be released from her ‘Songs from the Bay’ EP has perhaps the most persistent of all. ‘Caught Me on a Bad Day’ wangles its way into your ear to become a constant riff in the mind. The lines “If only you’d seen my last Friday night / red lipstick and a dress that fits just right” are particularly guilty of playing over and over for hours after first hearing them. Other lines, such as the playful “I put my socks on but they weren’t a matching pair”, are equally memorable. In other hands, they could be condemned as cheesy, but in the honest and frank world of Amy-Jo, they add real value to her story. In this instance, it is about bumping into an ex just three weeks after splitting up, and doing so at a time when she didn’t look her best. Dealing with the subject of appearance is always apt in our image-obsessed age, requiring a deftness that Amy-Jo achieves with ease. She walks the way between expectation and reality well, perfection being presented as both an ideal and a truth. The former is desired in order to appear fine but really it is the latter – being “happy in my skin / even with no make-up on / and a spot on my chin” – that is to be welcomed. This makes it yet another relatable song from the pen of an artist whose debut EP is among the best that the UK Country scene has to offer. Superb in every way.

You can read reviews of each of the songs from her ‘Songs from the Bay’ EP here.