Singer/songwriter Hannah Ellis Returns With “Too Much & Not Enough”

Singer/songwriter Hannah Ellis has made a splash in 2023 – and is ready to put everything on the line via the bold lyricism in her new single “Too Much & Not Enough,” the emphatic urgency of her words only rivaled by the searing tonality of the music. Lyrics can be a catalyst for a lot of different emotional communications in songwriting, but in this instance, it’s one of the most important avenues we’ll find in “Too Much & Not Enough.” Whether listening to the track by itself or watching the music video made in support of its release, this is a fantastic way of getting to know a rising artist like Hannah Ellis on a deeper level than we could before.

This music video takes the idea behind the composition and gives it an added edge through both simplicity and a string of shots that allude to more than words could ever get across to us on their own, and in my book, that makes it an interesting watch for sure. There was no need to get crazy with the props in this piece, and I like that while Ellis is playing a starring role, she isn’t overstating her presence as a means of forcing emotions that aren’t her own. She’s being true to her artistry and personality in “Too Much & Not Enough,” and that alone is a step above what Nashville’s ever-changing status quo is calling for nowadays. It’s not following a familiar formula, but there’s undeniably something quite strikingly simple and profound in the way of classic pop music here, and it’s making it all the harder to deny the star power that this player is bringing into the recording studio with her.

Beyond the music video itself, there are a couple of elements here that just scream surrealism from the moment we first hear them to the second everything comes to an end. The diverse influences in Ellis’s work start to rise to the surface; traces of modern Americana are spliced with a countrified introspectiveness that I hadn’t heard in any of her other works are present in this release, and they dominate the aesthetical backbone of every note we hear. Catharsis is plentiful, but so is the sense that she’s paying homage to her roots.

Hannah Ellis still has work to do if she’s going to break through to a broader mainstream audience that has never felt quite as dependent on its commercialized identity as it does in 2023. But I think she’s one of the hottest country singer/songwriters out right now that’s worth keeping tabs on for 2024. “Too Much & Not Enough” feels like a cornerstone composition, and in time, I think it could prove to be a significant turning point in her overall development as a player. There’s no denying that the rusticity of this piece is one of its greatest charms, but at the same time, it’s difficult to picture anyone but this young voice giving the lyrics the kind of life she does so effortlessly in this performance.

Samuel Pratt