Everything We Know About Miranda Lambert’s ‘The Weight of These Wings’
Since Blake Shelton released his tell-all album If I'm Honest, country music fans have been waiting for Miranda Lambert's musical side of the story of their 2015 divorce. Luckily, whether you're into the gossip or just can't wait to hear new music from Lambert, your wait is almost over.
Below, The Boot has rounded up all of the details known about Lambert's forthcoming sixth major-label studio album -- at least, all of those that we know so far.
The Title
Lambert's new album is called The Weight of These Wings. The record's rumored title was Records I Never Heard.
In early October, Lambert shared that The Weight of These Wings will be a double album. The first disc will be called “The Nerve,” and the second one will be called “The Heart.”
“She didn’t make a double record to say, ‘Look at me. Y’all deserve two records from me,’” producer Frank Liddell notes. “It was never calculated; it was never, ‘We’re going to do something that nobody has done.’ It was just that this is where she was in her life at the time.”
The Release Date
The release date for The Weight of These Wings is Nov. 18. Lambert announced the release date and album title in an Instagram video in mid-September.
The Record Label
The Weight of These Wings will be released via Vanner Records, Lambert's new Sony Music Nashville imprint. Since her debut major-label album, 2005’s Kerosene, Lambert has been part of the SMN family.
The Album Cover
The album cover for The Weight of These Wings is gold and features a black-and-white photo of Lambert, holding a guitar case, standing in front of a pair of wrought-iron wings. The album’s title appears above the photo in script, while Lambert’s name appears below it in a fancy, all-caps font. The singer shared the album artwork at the end of September, again via Instagram.
The Producers
The Weight of These Wings was produced by Liddell, Glenn Worf and Eric Masse.
The Single
"Vice," released in mid-July, is the first single off of Lambert's forthcoming album, and as the title indicates, it's about imperfections and bad habits.
"I think this song is an opportunity to just be honest and own it and say, ‘Yeah, I have some imperfections, and I live a life, and here and there I might get in a pickle,’" Lambert says. "It’s not about one thing or another. Everybody has a vice they run to when they need comfort, and I think that’s what this song says. There’s no mystery here. I run to things for comfort just like everybody else.”
“Vice” debuted at No. 19 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart (a career high for Lambert). She released the song's accompanying music video in early September.
On Nov. 15, just a few days before The Weight of These Wings' release, Lambert revealed that "We Should Be Friends" would be the project's second single.
The Songs
In some ways, Lambert says that the songs on The Weight of These Wings will be no different than others she's released, in that her music has always been an honest reflection of her life; the difference, of course, is that part of her recent life has been her well-publicized divorce from Shelton. Lambert admits that she wrote "Vice" at the "exact time of the s--t hitting the fan," and chances are good that more songs on the record will reference -- directly or indirectly -- the famous couple's split.
“Every record I’ve ever made has been a reflection of where I am right then in my life, however old I am. And I’ve never held back at all,” Lambert explains. “But this time, with what I happened to be going through in my life, being honest was never really a choice. Everybody knew anyway. So I just said, I’m gonna journal it, and — good days and bad days — use it for my art.”
Still, Lambert's lyrical stories won’t all be sad.
“I’m never gonna have an album that’s quote-unquote a ‘heartbreak album’. Because everybody has bad moments, and then you come out of it, and you have a great moment, and then you have some somber times,” she says. “I want an emotional journey, because that’s what life is, and I want to document that."
On Oct. 17, Lambert revealed that The Weight of These Wings will contain 24 tracks, 12 on each disc. “Vice” is Track No. 8 on the first disc, the Nerve; that disc also includes songs such as “Highway Vagabond,” from which Lambert’s 2017 tour takes its name, “We Should Be Friends” and “Covered Wagon.” The second disc, the Heart, features “Things That Break,” “Keeper of the Flame” — from which Lambert’s summer tour took its name — and “Dear Old Sun.”
Co-writers on The Weight of These Wings include Ashley Monroe, Jack Ingram, Gwen Sebastian, Shane McAnally, Lucie Silvas and Lambert's boyfriend, Anderson East.
Miranda Lambert, The Weight of These Wings Track Listing:
The Tour
On Jan. 26 in Evansville, Ind., Lambert will kick off her Highway Vagabond Tour. A total of 18 stops are confirmed thus far, running through mid-March, and Lambert has tapped Old Dominion and Aubrie Sellers as her opening acts.
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