What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing

Sahara Hotnights

2007

Rating

Votes

24%

48%

17%

Distribution

Genres: Rock Styles: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock

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Album Summary

What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing is the fourth studio album by Swedish band Sahara Hotnights, released through their own record company Stand By Your Band. The band formed sometime around 1991/1992 "due to boredom". While in Australia, Josephine Forsman bet on a horse named Sahara Hotnights and used the name for the band. Around 1995, they won a "battle of the bands" contest and were rewarded with a chance to record their songs in a studio, including demo cassette "Oh Darcy". Their debut EP, Suits Anyone Fine, was released in 1997 to immediate success and critical acclaim in Europe. Soon afterwards, the band signed with the Swedish label Speech Records, and over the next two years released three further singles, "Face Wet", "Oh Darling!" and "Nothing Yet". In 1999, Sahara Hotnights released their debut studio album C'mon Let's Pretend, which earned two Grammis nominations.

Reviews

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Rating: All 5★ 4★ 3★ 2★ 1★

Length: All Short Long

Apr 02 2026 Author

Maybe a 4 Mostly 3 But 4 for the length Very shallow, but didn't waste my time 4

Mar 28 2026 Author

I find it to be a bit shocking that this album (after five votes) has such a low rating. I agree there is nothing essential or very original about it. The quality of the songs is quite ok though. And the album is full of energetic, up-tempo and catchy melodic rock songs. An album full of "I Love Rock 'n Roll" (Joan Jett) like bangers can't be a bad thing.

Apr 05 2026 Author

A real Go-Gos vibe here to me - some great pop with soft punk undertones. Great!

Apr 08 2026 Author

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Visit to Vienna, Salty lips, Neon lights, Cheek to cheek, Static

Mar 30 2026 Author

Strong female pop-rock. Kinda enjoyed this

Apr 02 2026 Author

April 1, 2026 again HL: "Visit to Vienna", "The Loneliest City of All", "No For an Answer", "Getting Away With Murder" Wikipedia, are you saying this band formed as 10 year olds? Madone as if I didn't feel like I'm behind in life enough as it is It took me a minute, but I'm really warming to the Hotnights. My first thought was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but it actually feels more like pop rock from the early 80's. The Bangles, Cheap Trick, the Cars. Just straightforward, melodic tunes. Caught between a 3 and a 4. tonight I shall round up

Apr 02 2026 Author

8/10 pretty good alt rock :) not the best I’ve heard, but I had fun

Apr 06 2026 Author

This grabbed me from the start and never let go. On first listen, I'd say this is close to pure pop perfection, and I have a feeling it's going to become a regular listen for me. 4 stars.

Apr 06 2026 Author

I quite enjoyed this garage pop of some Swedish ladies kicking ass

Mar 30 2026 Author

Garage rock, indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Mar 30 2026 Author

Annoyingly not on spotify but after listening to it, it's not really anything special. It's perfect fine modern rock but nothing I would actively seek out. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Apr 03 2026 Author

At times this gave me Pretenders vibes, at other times it gave me your aunt’s cover band vibes. Maybe this is because they’re Swedish, but the over pronunciation of everything bothered me. I don’t need to understand every single word on the first listen of any album. It reminds me of musical theater or Donald Fagen, neither of which I’m happy with. But honestly, I might be being a bitch. This album is really alright.

Apr 13 2026 Author

Enjoyed the storytelling. Strong, confident vocals and a very solid rocker.

Mar 28 2026 Author

This was a decent listen, but didn't leave a huge impact. Not sure why this is a must-listen before you die, would've opted for Ex Hex or Bikini Kill (who I still cannot believe aren't on the main 1001) if we're going for notable woman-only bands.

Apr 03 2026 Author

I feel like I've been writing this a lot lately, but this album just made no impression on me. I don't think it's bad by any means, it just doesn't speak to me, which makes it hard to give much of an evaluation Still, 3/5

Apr 04 2026 Author

I listened to this album partly, listened to the other part later, but accidentally shuffled the songs the second time. I didn't notice until I was done and looking at the track listing that I listened to some songs twice.

Apr 05 2026 Author

Sounded even worse through the YouTube ads

Mar 29 2026 Author

Unable to listen to it as it’s not on Spotify

Apr 12 2026 Author

It's ok, pretty run of the mill rock/pop? Not much else to say- I had to go to Youtube. This could have been from 1987 rather than 2007