A lot has happened in a short amount of time for country music superstar Lainey Wilson, thanks to her 2022 fourth studio album, Bell Bottom Country, which saw her earn the ACM award for Album of the Year.
The project also scored the Louisiana native her second solo No. 1 hit with “Heart Like a Truck.” The song’s video went on to win the CMT Music Award for Female Video of the Year.
Lainey Wilson Is Working On A New Album
Wilson has achieved success prior to the release of Bell Bottom Country, but now that the 16-track project has had its chance to breathe, Wilson shares she is setting her sights on her next album. And she promises fans will see a “different side of me” when it becomes available.
“This next record, it needs to be different. Let’s not try to fix what’s not broke at this point, but it needs to be a step-up. It needs to show a different side of me,” Wilson, 31, who revealed she began writing songs for her upcoming record in 2022, told American Songwriter.
“It’s going to be really easy to show that different side of me because I am in a very healthy relationship, and you’re gonna be hearing things out of me that I didn’t even know I was capable of,” she continued. “It’s really cool when you can completely let those walls down. I’m learning things about myself right now that I didn’t even know was possible. I’m able to share more of my life. Being able to say, ‘Hey, I’m happy and healthy and in love,’ it’s something I didn’t know I was gonna get a chance to say.”
Writing Love Songs For The First Time Ever
Wilson announced her relationship with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Devlin Hodges earlier this year at the 2023 ACM Awards, flaunting him as her date on the red carpet. And, while that was the first time fans had gotten to see the pair’s romantic chemistry in public, Wilson was actually seeing Hodges romantically two years prior.
“I’m in a very happy, healthy relationship right now, and I’ve never written a love song in my life until the last two and a half years,” Wilson admitted. “[Devlin] makes it very easy for me to do that. If I’m going through things, if I’m going through a breakup, or if I’m dealing with a family member being super sick, I’m writing about that.”
“I’m really trying to tune into those things, those true feelings,” she added. “It’s important for me to take advantage of those feelings and not be scared of them. If anything, it helps me navigate my way through the entire situation and helps me out on the other end of it.”
Indeed, rummaging through Wilson’s already-released music catalog, fans will find that she certainly hasn’t penned much material about love.
In fact, her biggest songs up to this point have provided the opposite in terms of subject matter. “Things A Man Oughta Know” plays out like a ‘how to’ book for men who don’t have much of a clue about relationships, while “Heart Like A Truck” finds her fleeing from a relationship before it gets too serious.
Wilson Says Her Boyfriend’s “Favorite” Songs Are The Ones Coming About Him
Wilson still has some time before she finalizes all of the details for her upcoming project. But she shares that Hodges has become partial to “the songs that I write about him” calling them “his favorite.”
Elsewhere, she says, “During this really busy season of life that I’m in, I want to write about things that make me feel grounded or make me feel like I’m at home because I’m never at home.”
In fact, Wilson is far from home these days, currently playing a run of shows as part of HARDY’s headlining the mockingbird & THE CROW Fall Tour, which runs through December. She also has a handful of concert dates planned in between the trek, keeping her schedule stacked for the rest of 2023.
Reflecting on everything she’s accomplished thus far, from earning several chart toppers as a solo artist and with collaborations to making her acting debut on Yellowstone and more, Wilson says, “It honestly feels like a whirlwind. I’m trying to keep one foot on the ground and stay rooted in who I am and me. We’re going 90 miles an hour at this point. A lot has happened in a short amount of time. Don’t count the 12 years I’ve actually been in Nashville, planting those seeds and building everything brick-by-brick. But the last two years, it’s hard to explain.”
Leading Female Nominee At 2023 People’s Choice Country Awards
Additionally, Lainey Wilson is currently the leading female nominee at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards.
Wilson is up for the night’s top award, The People’s Artist of 2023, as well as The Female Artist of 2023, The Song of 2023 for her collaboration with HARDY, “wait in the truck,” The Collaboration Song of 2023 for “wait in the truck” and “Save Me” with Jelly Roll, The Album of 2023 with Bell Bottom Country and The Music Video of 2023 with “wait in the truck.”
The People’s Choice Country Awards will air live on September 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT simultaneously on NBC and Peacock from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
