From Hurtin’ on the Bottle to Ditching Both the Hurt and the Bottle: The Meaning Behind Margo Price’s “Change of Heart”

While Margo Price’s first single, “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle),” may not have been intentionally autobiographical, it detailed a way in which—at that stage of her life—she would deal with pain. Price used alcohol to numb herself to the extent that, when she was writing her 2022 memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It, her editor told her that “whiskey is basically a character in this book.”

Alcohol figures prominently in another of Price’s biggest hits, “Change of Heart,” from her 2023 album Strays. More specifically, “Change of Heart” is about how Price deals with pain in the absence of alcohol, which she gave up—in part because of that comment from her editor. Price has had to endure plenty of pain, particularly from the trauma of losing one of her twin boys when he was just 10 days old. The change that “Change of Heart” refers to is her sobriety and the ways she has supplanted alcohol as a coping mechanism.

[RELATED: Margo Price Opens Up About Her Album ‘Strays,’ Sobriety, and Memoir]

A Change of Heart; A Change of Coping Strategies

“Change of Heart” first came into being with a guitar riff written by her husband and bandmate, Jeremy Ivey. Price filled in the vocal melody with lyrics that read like a letter to her pre-sober self. She sings from the perspective of someone who acknowledges her feelings instead of numbing out,  and she seeks help in the form of self-compassion and therapy.

In regard to the “change of heart” she refers to in the song’s refrain, Price told Stereogum, “[Therapy’s) been something that I never really saw myself doing, because I grew up in a time and a place where it was like, oh, if you were going to therapy, then you had mental problems and you weren’t right in the head.” Being closed to the sort of help that therapy could provide was a major obstacle for Price, but clearing that hurdle made writing “Change of Heart”—and making the changes it describes—possible.

Price starts off the song with some words of warning to her former self, making it clear that her old ways of coping were not going to serve her well.

One of these days, you’re gonna wake up older
With a hole in your pocket and a blade on your shoulder
Well, if you break both your legs, oh, don’t come runnin’ to me
I’ve had a change of heart

In the second verse, Price marks her change in attitude with the line I never loved you and I always will. In the past tense, Price treats herself in an unloving and uncompassionate way, but in the future tense, she shows up for herself. Then, in the chorus, Price recognizes that her change in perspective could only come from her heart, and not from any sort of argument, no matter how rational it was.

Get down to the end of the line
And it all fell apart
I quit tryin’ to change your mind
I had a change of heart

In the song’s fourth and final verse, Price lets her former self know she is there to make peace and to move on from the past. In the context of the song’s overall meaning, it’s fair to assume that Price is both the child and the mother in the scenario she paints in this verse.

An unwanted child with an absent mother
You want protection like an older brother
I end up forgetting all the words that you said
I had a change of heart

The Impact of “Change of Heart”

“Change of Heart” is Price’s only single to date to enter one of Billboard’s rankings, peaking at No. 22 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart. It fared even better on the Americana Music Association’s singles chart, holding the top spot for 14 consecutive weeks. Price also released an acoustic version of “Change of Heart,” which features Sierra Ferrell.

Strays reached No. 30 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 12 on their Americana/Folk Albums chart. Its No. 7 placement on their Top Album Sales chart ties That’s How Rumors Get Started (2020) as Price’s highest-charting album on those rankings.

Seven years after breaking through with a song about putting a hurtin’ on the bottle, Price scored an even bigger hit about how drinking in order to cope was ultimately hurting her. As she acknowledges in the song’s final chorus, she isn’t able to change the past, but that doesn’t mean she can’t find a better way to reconcile herself with it. “Change of Heart” could just rest on the merits of being one of Price’s catchiest tunes, but it also happens to come with a valuable message for us all.

Photo by Mickey Bernal/Getty Images