One of those songs, "Fancy Like," became a runaway hit, thanks to dance moves choreographed by his 15-year-old daughter Lila that made the song a TikTok sensation. Walker Hayes had been dropped from two record deals by the time he stopped writing songs for radio and just started telling stories from his own life. Read More: Meet This Year's Best New Artist Nominees | 2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show "Fancy Like" - Walker HayesĬameron Bartolini, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins & Shane Stevens, songwriters (Walker Hayes) 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. It was a sentiment that clearly connected: "Country Again" became Rhett's 17th No. For Rhett, that meant getting back to his rural American roots. Instead, it's a call to make up for lost time by rediscovering the passions and relationships that make us human. Later in the song, he reflects, "I traded sunsets with my wife, for hours on my phone/ And even when I was right beside her, I still wasn't really home."īut the song doesn't wallow in self-pity. The opening line of "Country Again" - "I quit huntin' with my daddy, guess I didn't make the time" - illustrates the regrets of a life lived on the road. Thomas Rhett used the downtime to take stock of what being a country-music hitmaker meant to his life and relationships.
In the time wrought by tragedy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many sought silver linings as they were forced to put their usual life on pause. Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley & Thomas Rhett, songwriters Read More: Meet This Year's Album Of The Year Nominees | 2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show "Country Again" - Thomas Rhett Following a masterful intro piano riff from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers co-founder Benmont Tench, Stapleton builds the song up, then a string section takes it even higher - making the pain of "Cold," as the singer sings it himself, cut like a knife. Stapleton delivers a raw vocal performance in his trademark blue-collar, blue-eyed soul croon. "What am I supposed to say/ If anybody asks me about you?/ I guess I'll tell 'em I'm without you," he laments in the song's second verse. Though "Cold" wasn't the highest-performing single from Chris Stapleton's fourth solo album, Starting Over, the slow-burning tune is an album standout thanks to its pleading chorus hook and brick-house songwriting.įor a man who's happily married (to his onstage partner, Morgane) with five kids, Stapleton masterfully encapsulated the bitterness of a jilted lover. Cure, Derek Mixon & Chris Stapleton, songwriters Read More: Kacey Musgraves' Road To Star-Crossed: How The Breakup Album Fits Right Into Her Glowing Catalog "Cold" - Chris Stapletonĭave Cobb, J.T. And as much as the pics may taunt her, she admits, "I'll never erase 'em." She reaches a place of appreciation for those photos by the song's end, thanking her ex for the good memories they documented throughout their relationship.
"Chronological order and nothing but torture/ Scroll too far back, that's what you get," Musgraves sings on the chorus of the melancholy track. Inspired by scrolling through images on her phone, the lyrics caution against believing that the photos we save tell the true story of our lives - when in fact, they give a distorted view that obscures the weight hiding behind them. And "Camera Roll" is the song where the tidal wave of conflicting emotions finally crashes. While Kacey Musgraves' 2018 album Golden Hour - which won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 2019 GRAMMY Awards - chronicled the happier times of her marriage to singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly, her latest release, star-crossed, catalogs the unraveling that led to their 2020 divorce.
Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves & Daniel Tashian, songwriters Read More: Meet This Year's Song Of The Year Nominees | 2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show "Camera Roll" - Kacey Musgraves The outspoken GRAMMY-winner was unabashed in her lyrical questioning ("When thе wolf's at the door all covered in bluе/ Shouldn't we try somethin' new?/ We're over a barrel, and at the end of one too," she offers in the song's second verse), which comes to a head during the poignant bridge: "America, America/ Divided we fall/ America, America/ God save us all." "Will we sit on our hands, do nothin' about it?/ Or will we leave this world better than we found it?," Morris poses in the song's chorus. Released in October 2020, "Better Than We Found It" ponders how Morris' generation can overcome the political division plaguing America and set a positive example for their children. Maren Morris co-wrote this protest song during the summer of 2020, when cities across America and around the world erupted in protests following the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.