How Lainey Wilson, an ’11-year overnight sensation,’ became country music’s brightest new star.
“One of our fans said something that is so iconic for women, too: ‘You know that you’ve changed my life. I want to be you.’ It’s a huge statement, that this young woman would say this to the music industry.”
In her early years, Laine’s voice was described as sexy, and that’s still part of the magic.
“I don’t want to get too cheesy, but sexiness is what I’m known for,” she said. “I wanted my fans to know that I was someone who could entertain them and bring out their best.”
One of the reasons she left her native Scotland for Nashville was to create her own career, away from the restraints put on her and her label.
“I am a person who’s got all the things that I wanted and wanted to make sure that I was taken care of,” she said. “I did that by going to Nashville at the time and meeting with record labels, producers, managers, agents. I met with a group of A&R people for months and months and months and months.” It was a long road trip that she would call a “harrowing experience.”
But Wilson is at it again now. She’s back, this time to record her first proper album, and is focused on a world tour that will make her the first woman to headline the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville’s iconic, two-hour music festival.
She’s got a killer-sounding new album on the horizon, which will arrive at a pivotal time for female musicians. For years, female rappers have had a free ride through the rap battle charts. But the rise of the female country music star has been a mixed bag.
And it won’t be a big, splashy, headlining tour for Wilson, who’s known for keeping her life as pure as possible – and all her lyrics honest.
“I had to make a decision when I was 18 to be a country singer or a hip-hop singer,” she said. “I didn’t really have a choice. So I chose country.
“I chose to become a female singer because it was my dream to be in country music, and that’s what I’ve worked toward.”
She is one of only