Miranda Lambert has been doing this long enough to know exactly how vulnerable a new album can feel.
Even after years of hits, awards and sold-out shows, there’s still something about putting a new collection of songs into the world that gets under her skin.
And when Lambert talks about what happens to her when a record comes out, her description is surprisingly candid.
Putting Your Heart on the Page
“I always get weird when records come out, because it’s your heart on a page,” Lambert, 42, tells Southern Living.
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For Lambert, the songs on a new album aren’t simply tracks she’s finished recording. They’re pieces of herself that she’s suddenly asking the public to hear, dissect and judge.
That can make release week an emotional experience, even for an artist who’s been navigating country music for decades.
But this time, Lambert found herself approaching the moment differently.
A Different Kind of Release
Lambert released Crisco, her blend of country and disco, Friday (Oct. 2), and she says she went into this album without the expectations that have made previous releases feel so stressful.
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“I don’t feel worried about this one, because I never really set out to have any expectation for it except to enjoy it. I think that’s a good place to be,” she says.
The album also carries a deeply personal connection to the women who inspired Lambert, including her grandmother.
“My grandmother did teach me how to fry chicken with Crisco,” she says.
That connection is part of what makes Crisco feel less like a project Lambert needs to prove something with and more like one she made for the joy of making it.
Top 10 Miranda Lambert Songs That Make Her One of Country Music’s Most Important Modern Artists
Miranda Lambert’s Top songs include No. 1 hits, misfires at country radio and deep cuts that fans hope the record setting Female Vocalist of the Year will play live. Since 2005, Lambert has given fans consistently honest country music that hits the soul. We’ve been there through her ups and downs, as she fell in and out of love. The anger, the pain, the love and the emotions — let’s rank Lambert’s top 10 songs of all time, shall we?
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
