Photo: Norman Seeff
LeAnn Rimes unleashed a new track from her upcoming album on Friday morning (July 15), teaming up with country music trailblazer Mickey Guyton and queen of percussion Sheila E. to deliver a battle cry of female empowerment. The lyrics, “speak to the pushback and ridicule women face when voicing their opinion and speaking out,” reads a press release announcing Rimes’ latest anthem.
Rimes wrote “the wild” with longtime collaborator Darrell Brown. It marks the fifth song to be highlighted from god’s work, which is set to release on September 16. The collection as a whole examines “the duality of life, the light and the dark,” Rimes explained, noting that that’s “most apparent in ‘the wild.’”
- spaceship
- the only (Ft. Ziggy Marley, Ledisi, and Ben Harper)
- awakening
- how much a heart can hold
- throw my arms around the world
- the wild (Ft. Sheila E. and Mickey Guyton)
- innocent
- god’s work (Ft. Robert Randolph, Mickey Guyton, and Tata Vega)
- something better’s coming
- imagined with love
- there will be a better day
- i do (Duet by Aloe Blacc and LeAnn Rimes)
“The song is about the patriarchal world that has shaped us as a society, especially women… the silencing and fracturing of ourselves in order to fit into the pretty and polite societal box, throughout generations. It’s a battle cry to unite women to reclaim every part of our truest nature and no longer allow our wild, our ‘unholy’ to be ignored, shamed and rejected. It is full of rage… the kind of rage that calls us home. Rage, that ignites change and says, ‘I have been here all along, waiting for you to return to your wholeness.’ And I couldn’t be more excited to have such strong, kindhearted, ‘wild’ women featured alongside me. Mickey Guyton and Sheila E. helped make this track come alive!”
Rimes marked 25 years as a recording artist earlier this year, celebrating with a CMT special, CMT Crossroads: LeAnn Rimes & Friends. It featured special guests who performed some of Rimes’ biggest hits with her, including Guyton (along with Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde and Brandy Clark). The country music icon also saw the opening of the new The Power Of Women In Country Music exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum.
Rimes is keeping busy on her ongoing “the story…so far” tour, performing her greatest hits and giving fans sneak peeks of new songs coming up on god’s work. The project is one that intentionally leans on all-lowercased letters, because, Rimes explained: “If we’re arguing about why the ‘g’ is or isn’t capitalized, we’re missing the whole point. It’s so important for us to focus on the messages, rather than the nuances.”
See the rest of her upcoming tour dates below. Listen to “the wild” here (warning: explicit lyrics).
- Friday, July 15th - Indianapolis, IN - Rock the Ruins at the Vogue Outdoors
- Saturday, July 16th - New Buffalo, MI - Four Winds Casino Resort - Silver Creek Event Center
- Friday, July 22nd - Bend, OR - Athletic Club of Bend
- Saturday, July 23rd - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion
- Sunday, July 24th - San Francisco, CA - Stern Grove Festival
- Saturday, August 27th - Palmer, AK - ConocoPhillips Borealis Theatre
- Sunday, September 4th - Austin, TX - The Long Center For The Performing Arts
- Friday, September 9th - Champaign, IL - Virginia Theatre
- Saturday, September 10th - Bowler, WI - North Star Mohican Casino
- Sunday, September 11th - Eau Claire, WI - The Pablo Center at the Confluence
- Saturday, September 24th - Camp Verde, AZ - Cliff Castle Casino