Tori Hughes Shakes Up the Story of Man’s Best Friend with “Too Soon”

Do the movies get it wrong? I know that’s a loaded question these days. Before you get too excited, let me narrow it down to one issue I have with the silver screen. Over the past 100 years, women haven’t had many iconic roles with “man’s best Friends.” That’s not to say there haven’t been. “The Wizzard of Oz,” “Clifford,” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven” are a few. All that said, I doubt you would have made the girl-dog connection if I didn’t bring it up. I didn’t. I had to do some research because I drew a blank. Yet, listening to “Too Soon,” the very first single from country music artist Tori Hughes, I think there is a need for more K-9 adventures with a female lead on the big screen.

I grew up with a German Shepherd mutt named Bear. In my opinion, he is the best dog of all time. However, I am sure Tori will disagree with that statement. Bear protected us from both critters and humans. Sometimes in error. There was one time he kept a new UPS driver on top of his truck until we got home from church. Bear may have looked tough, but he had a soft soul.

Bear was also very social. Being an outside dog granted him some freedoms he took full advantage of. I remember waking up one night to the sounds of splashing. My mother and I raced to the pool to see what the commotion was all about. Once we got there, the laughter started after witnessing what we saw. Bear was laid out on the lounge chair while four other dogs were doing laps in the pool. As a child, it felt like the fun would last forever. That was until I heard the word cancer for the first time.

What started as a small lump turned into larger lumps all over. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the day we buried Bear by the oak in the front yard, but two things have always stuck with me. The first was how large of a hole the backhoe put in the ground and the heart-crushing feeling I felt after noticing my older brother’s face as he laid Bear in that deep hole. To this day, it feels like my childhood friend died too soon.

As crazy as it sounds, when I first heard the new single from Tori Hughes, I didn’t think it was about a dog. I thought she was singing about a childhood friend. It’s funny how sometimes you hear what you want to hear. I have had a friend who passed on my mind recently. It took a second listen for me to understand “Too Soon” completely. After that, everything fell into place. Tori, like me, keeps her emotional cards close to her chest. However, we all need some way to unload our emotions. I use write-ups like the one you are reading, while Tori uses songwriting.

“Too Soon” is the most poetic song I’ve ever heard about man’s best friend. We are socially conditioned to make the connection between a boy and his dog. However, I now feel Tori’s first single shakes things up and is one of the best stories about a girl and her dog. I hope to see this story play out on the big screen. I sincerely think this single would make an impactful music video.