HAILEY VERHAALEN - House Always Wins - Independent Release

2023 has been a year of monumental steps and huge firsts for rising singer-songwriter Hailey Verhaalen.

Whitney Miller brought her to the national spotlight as a songwriter on her well-received “15 Minutes of Fame,” her artist career blossomed with hot single releases “Leaving ‘em in My Twenties” and “My Roots Are Showing,” and she appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage this past Wednesday during a show stopping performance of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” with Lainey Wilson and the Tractor Supply Company emerging artists in which she is a part of.

She now gives us her strongest song to date with the radio-ready, “House Always Wins,” which coincidently is also the song that placed her in the Top 5 with the TSC emerging artist program.

The song, co-written by Hailey, Kelly Seidel, Emily Daniels, and Caroline Marquard, leans against a soft smile that moves through the floaty melody as she takes the listener into the opening verse, first describing the busy downtown scene coming to life from her viewpoint out her living room window, only to land at a playful wink that speaks directly to the heart of her better half, “we could get dressed up for some overpriced beer, but there’s nothing out there we don’t have right here!”

Fully embracing the heartbeat feelings of finding the one you want to be with, content with it being just the two of you in together and slowing down the night while the rest of the world spins a million miles per hour, she lifts into the chorus to paint the perfect romantic evening of getting lost in within one another:

“Baby, drop the needle down

Make a living room dance floor

Open bar, we don’t gotta go far

To make a night we will remember

You and candlelight there’s nothing better

We could hit the town but I’ll bet we’re staying in

Cause the house always wins”

Pushing further into the moment throughout the second half of the song, Hailey endearingly unfolds the love letter, setting the flirtatiously convincing mood through lines such as “who are we kidding, we know we ain’t leaving” and “we could brave the crowd or we could steer clear, there’s nothing out there we don’t have right here.”

There’s an honesty that Hailey Verhaalen places into the vocals on each of her song releases as they always pull from a place of truth within her own life; this one drawing clear inspiration from her newlywed status as she pairs the tenderness of her voice against the sway embedded melody to bring couples close together in a living room dance of their own as this song provides their backdrop.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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