LAINEY WILSON - 4X4XU - BBR

As reigning entertainer of the year, Lainey Wilson, continues to entice sold out venue’s night after night on her ‘Country’s Cool Again’ tour, she’s not only balancing her dynamic live show with an appreciative nod to the songs that layered her path to superstardom, but she’s also offering several looks at things to come from her highly anticipated, Whirlwind.

Following the tempo infused tour namesake, “Country’s Cool Again,” and her current barn burning single “Hang Tight Honey,” Wilson now provides the next snapshot of her forthcoming album with “4X4XU.”

A pivotal song in the encore of her current set, “4X4XU” switches gears from the current blast of Friday night, boot heel clicking soundscapes that we’ve gotten from her so far this year, to soften the pace into a heartfelt ballad that unveils a layer of raw transparency dripped in modern era nostalgia.

The song, co-written by Lainey, Joe Decious, and Aaron Raitiere, opens with an immediate telling of how she’s usually always the more independent type, “I’m the kind to take the keys, don’t sit in the shotgun seat unless I want to,” before quickly then accenting the heart fluttered ways that he’s making her comfortable enough to let her walls down, “And you make me want to.”

From her shotgun seat point of view, she cleverly references auto related familiarity to comparatively explain the type of stronghold that he has on her heart, “your hands 10 and 2 on this heart of mine,” equating it to how at home he makes her feel in everything they do together, including the simplicity of sitting by his side during a 4X4 no destination drive.

Through the blissful sway of the chorus rhythm, Wilson places her euphoric heart atop the melody as she paints her beside him feelings through a time-standing still, memory making moment together that stretches the county markers as far and wide as they want to trail the white-lined roads:

“In a 4x4 by you

From the Bayou to the country

City or the country

From here to Timbuktu

Boy you know after a long day

You know there ain’t  no wrong way

To drive my crazy crazy

Then in a 4x4 by you”

With crafty songwriting, core country storytelling, and crisp descriptives that explain the unexplainable feelings of allowing your heart to fall, Wilson carries a pure honesty into “4X4XU” that matches melody and tonality to fully encompasses the overall vibe, providing a bold showcase of an artist clearly being in their zone while continually raising the bar to add intrigue to what is undoubtably going to be the hottest album release in the second half of 2024.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis/Album Photo Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson)

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