Miranda Lambert has had a Wildcard past couple of years, and it's all led to the release of her seventh full-length album.
Wildcard follows 2016's The Weight of These Wings and her 2018 Pistol Annies album Interstate Gospel. Showcasing 14 new songs, including lead single "It All Comes Out In The Wash," Lambert's new album also includes a collaboration with Maren Morris "Way Too Pretty For Prison" (which was inspired by Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild).
Lambert literally has a wildcard up her sleeve — the Queen of Hearts in fact — via the tattoo on her right forearm. The country star explains of the meaning behind Wildcard, "I think a wildcard means different things to different people. But for me, it kind of means pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It's the same scenario. Because just when you get tired and think maybe that you don't have anymore tricks or anymore ideas, you open your eyes to the world around you and you reflect on your experiences and you pull a wildcard out of your sleeve. And then here we are, seventh album, new tour, new husband. That is a Wildcard. All of that."
She adds, "It perfectly defines these songs because everyone of them has a little bit of past and future in them — every single song. And this tattoo is about my past journey and a reminder for my future to be the queen of my own heart. It's a wildcard up my sleeve."
Moving on from The Weight of These Wings, Miranda wanted to bring the edgy rock vibe back to her music on Wildcard, and worked with producer Jay Joyce to do so. She explains, "That's one reason I wanted to work with him [Jay] because, like I said earlier about going back to the root of Kerosine, part of that rock vibe and that edge I had was Jay's sounds, and I needed that after The Weight of These Wings. I wanted that back. And so walking into the studio with a brand new producer who you respect so much, he's very intimidating. He's the mad scientist, he's amazing. So, I kind of just was open to letting art do its thing for a while and not force [anything]. I had certain songs that I really, really loved, 'White Trash' was one of them that I just was like, 'I want this to work,' and it was one of the hardest ones we cut. It was the one that gave us trouble out of all of them just because the track that Luke Dick made, Natalie [Hemby] sang on it, and beating Natalie and being vocal on a Luke Dick track is really hard to do. So we had to find a way to make it mine. And we did, but it was one of those where I was like, 'I really want this song to work because it says 'steak fingers' in it and I like that.'"
Fans were first introduced to Wildcard via its lead single, "It All Comes Out In The Wash." The title of the song was inspired by something Lambert's mother and grandmother used to say. She explains of the track, "'It All Comes Out in the Wash' [was] stuck in my head for a while — just that phrase. My mom used to say that. My grandma [used it] as just as a phrase that they would say to us when we were worried about something. But, I went in with The Love Junkies one day and I was like, 'I have this title. I think could be cool.' And I'd just gotten back from a trip to New Orleans and I had gone to my first crawfish boil like that. We had them in East Texas where my dad would make with the pot, but this was like a street fest. It was like a mile of tables with crawfish on them. It kind of blew my mind. But I walked into this street fest or whatever, and I was wearing a white T-shirt and I thought instantly, like, this isn't a good idea. I look like a rookie. Everyone's going to know I'm not from here. And, so I just was talking to the girls about it and that ended up being the first line of the song. And we just kept going and talking about everybody's kind of having a scenario of what they might have done or seen that was maybe a little shady or maybe a little dirty. And it was fun to write. It kind of wrote itself. Just situations that you get yourself in."
Wildcard's only song with a feature is "Way Too Pretty For Prison." Teaming up with Maren Morris, the track was actually inspired by Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild after a wine night at Lambert's. Miranda previously explained to iHeartRadio of how the song came to be:
"This new record has so many little details on it that become my favorites every time I listen, but one of those details is a fellow Texan and labelmate. My friend Maren Morris sang on a song with me that I also wrote with The Love Junkies, and I knew from the second we were writing it that I would love to have Maren on it. It popped in my head right away before the song was even done. So, I asked her to come in and sing on it. It's such a girl anthem, it's called 'Too Pretty For Prison,' and it was actually inspired by Karen Fairchild. We were having a wine night and I always tell all of my friends leaving, 'Don't leave if you've been drinking, because you're too pretty for prison.' So, thanks Karen, for sharing that wine bottle with me and for taking an Uber."
Lambert is set to head out on her "Wildcard Tour" in January 2020 which will stop in cities across North America including Tupelo, Birmingham, Nashville, Denver, Tulsa, Dallas, San Diego, Boise and more, before wrapping up in Montreal on May 9th. Tickets to the tour are available now.