While we’re humming along to the nostalgic, summertime hit “Watermelon Moonshine,” Lainey Wilson is hitting her pen to paper as hard as she’s been hitting the road the last year. The country songstress kicked off the year sweeping the ACM Awards, bringing home Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, and has traveled the country performing sold out shows city after city with fans screaming back at her the lyrics from her award-winning 2022 album Bell Bottom Country. “It’s wild. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around to be honest,” Lainey told HollywoodLife.com of the whirlwind year of success, while also chatting about her latest partnership with Sonic. “Let’s not even talk about the 12 years I’ve been in Nashville! The last two years, the last year, I guess you could say it just feels like we’ve been on this rocket ship and I’m trying to hold on for dear life with one foot on the ground.”
Most recently, Lainey released the music video for “Watermelon Moonshine,” which was announced as the second single off the Bell Bottom Country album — an ode to young love, reminiscent of Deana Carter’s iconic hit “Strawberry Wine.” While speaking to HL, she admitted that while she’s continuing to push the latest album she “started working on the next record before this one was even finished!” “For Bell Bottom Country, I was really prepared for that record because the pandemic had just happened. I wrote 300 plus songs during that time. So, for this next project, I knew that I was going to have to get a jumpstart on it because I knew that I was never going to get that extra time that I did during the pandemic,” Lainey explained. “So yes, I’m working on it! Any chance that I get, I’m bringing out some songwriters on the road with me because that’s kind of where it’s at right now. Not many days at home here in Nashville. We’re just having to make it happen wherever we can.”
Lainey, who will perform this upcoming Friday, July 28th at Mohegan Sun Arena on her Bell Bottom Country Tour, teased that her next project “feels grounded.” “I feel like the things that I write about will always be pretty similar. I will say that I am in a different season of my life right now, and I feel like in the last few years, I’ve just grown a whole lot as a singer, songwriter, performer, person, friend, girlfriend, all of the above, and I think you’re really going to be able to tell that in this next batch of music,” the “Heart Like A truck” singer revealed. “This next batch of music definitely feels, I guess the word for it is grounded. I’m not saying Bell Bottom Country was not that feeling, but Bell Bottom Country was really leaning into the things that make you you and make you different and not caring about what people have to say about it. This music is going to be that too, but I think it’s going to be a few more layers added to that.”
Lainey also dished to HL on her latest campaign with Sonic, which she teamed up with to showcase her favorite drink, remixed! The star revealed her go-to Sonic order is a Sprite Zero with fresh strawberries and sugar-free peach flavoring, which you can now get all summer long! “Sonic was a huge part of my childhood is a huge part of my life now! It is the ultimate drink destination!” she gushed. “I can be a thousand miles from home, but when I see a Sonic, I still somehow feel that right at home. When I think about after football games, growing up, all everybody would just run to the closest Sonic just to see who could get there the quickest.” Lainey even organically included the destination in her music video for “Grease,” and sings about having bourbon on Sonic ice in her song “Live Off.” “They’ve got good crushed ice!” she laughed. Be sure to try Lainey’s refreshing drink at your nearest Sonic!