MIKAYLA LANE

                                                             "Love You Like I Want To" 

                                                              Red River Records

Though 18-year-old Oklahoma native Mikayla Lane has been making tremendous impact for the better part of the past 6 years with highly touted gigs and very well-received studio releases, the surge she experienced with her breakthrough single, “Ambush,” and her most recent release, “Rodeo Money,” elevated her to exciting new heights that really put her on the buzzworthy radar.

She now returns with the official release of fan favorite, “Love You Like I Want To.”

The song, originally on her 2021 EP Miles From Nowhere, has received an overhauling re-edit that’s now primed it for a run at country radio.

The signature characteristic within her abilities as a songwriter to craft a story that draws you in on the back of heartfelt emotions remains its centerpiece, while it’s western kissed melody laces a float on the breeze style to allow Lane to expertly place her vocal into lyrics that sing straight to the guy who’s walking away from her, pleading to give her one last chance to show him who she is and why they could be so great together.

Lamenting that “it’s okay to slow down as long as we can make it up,” Lane taps into her country girl roots to run him through a list of the simple, down-home aspects about her backroads, bonfire, “country wild one” self, using descriptive lines such as: 

“Fireworks from a tailgate blanket, George Strait on the radio crank it up”

“Muddy boots and a short skirt”

However, the bridge of the song truly ties it all together as she transparently tells that what she’s feeling isn’t just a puppy love dream but a dirt road Cinderella story, before driving into the chorus and taking one last aim at getting him to stay when she sings, “Let me hold you like I want to,” “let me show you how it could be,” and “let me love you like I want to.”

This subtle flip in the phrasing through chorus craftily changes the entire dynamic of the song. Whereas the listener is initially led to believe that it’s her that needs to let walls down and let him in, the chorus gives an entirely different viewpoint as she reveals that it’s him that won’t let her in far enough to truly care about him the way she wants to.

Painting a picture that’s all too familiar for so many who are experiencing the frustrations of someone not letting them in so they can truly care about them, Mikayla Lane reaches through the speakers like an old friend with a warm hug to remind them that they aren’t alone in their struggle.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis) 

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