Hailey Whitters joins Today’s Country Radio and tells Kelleigh Bannen why ‘I’m In Love’ is giving her butterflies, what lesson she learned from Lainey Wilson and how her biggest hit almost didn’t get cut.
Tune in and listen to the episode in-full this Friday (July 21st) at 7am PT / 9am CT / 10am ET / 3pm UK or anytime on-demand at apple.co/_TodaysCountry.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Recording “I’m In Love”
I didn’t write this song. Nicolle Galyon, Cameron Bedell and Lee Miller wrote this song, but the minute I heard it, I was just instantly like, I love this. And so to me, it’s like the butterfly, giddy, but also, there’s that long-lasting element to it, too. The lyric to me isn’t all just chronological. It feels like it could be different seasons, different phases, different times.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Her First-Ever Pitch Meeting
I came into town for my first ever pitch session, which I got to … It’s like going shopping. You’re in this room and all these different publishers come in and bring you tapes and are playing you things. And Nicolle [Galyon] is very involved in a lot of my process. I mean, she’s a person who’s been writing songs with me for several years now. She’s from the Midwest. She gets where I come from. She’s also my label, Songs & Daughters. And so she’s very tapped into my influences and who I am and what I would say, and I guess my spirit, musically and stuff.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Opening for Shania Twain
Getting to go on tour with Shania Twain… that’s a dream that I don’t even know if I could have dreamt that one up. So it just totally surpassed my expectations, and getting to do that was just a total pinch me moment. Things are happening so fast right now, and I think actually getting to stand side stage and be still and hear her and those songs in that room, that was the moment that that hit me… It was so nuts. I mean, just so many dreams coming true right now, which is so cool.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Her Respect for Lainey Wilson and Other Hard-Working Artists
[Being an artist is] nonstop. If you’re physically doing it, you’re mentally doing it. It’s really hard to turn it off ever. And I just have so much respect for artists. It’s just so many things being thrown at you all the time. And I just look at a person like Lainey Wilson. I look up to her a lot. And when we were on tour last year, she was still in a van and trailer. And I was like, well, dang, girl. I can stick it out in the van and trailer too then… This shit’s for the birds. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. And I just have so much respect for people who are in it and people who are doing it because it isn’t all glitz and glamour. It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Her Husband, Jake Gear, Being Her Producer
It is a lot because he’s someone who just loves working and I like to turn it off. I like to play. But yeah, he’s so involved. He’s so invested. On the one hand, that’s the coolest thing in the world because it’s someone who knows what you do in and out and is just as much of an advocate for you as you and is right there in the shotgun seat with you on a lot of it. And on the other hand, it is hard because it’s … I mean, last night, shoot. I’d had a crap day and I just wanted to get a pizza and drink wine and chill in the backyard. And he came home like, all right, let’s dive in. And I was like, no… We aren’t. I’m going to get a little drunk and I’m just going to sit in the backyard and I don’t even want to listen to music right now.
Hailey Whitters Tells Apple Music About Almost Not Recording “Everything She Ain’t”
I thought my record was done and that was just kind of an extra song that we had that Jake had played for the label and they flipped out about, and they’re like, we have to record this or put this on the project. And I was like, okay, we can do that. And then now, I’m playing these stages and tens of thousands of people are singing it back. And it’s just been so crazy and so bizarre and just really cool because for me it was like, this came out of nowhere. You know what I mean? And so I think it’s taught me to allow yourself to be surprised and don’t put too much pressure on a song and don’t put too much pressure on the recording of it and the writing of it, and just let it be.
