Miranda Lambert reflects on the impact of marriage on creativity

During a conversation with CBS Sunday morningby Lee Cowan, Miranda Lambert talks about her new album, palominodetailed the evolution of his career date and went deeper into his creative process — and how his personal love stories fit into it.

“Every time I go to make a record or write a new song, I want to try to write a better song than the one I wrote last time, but also stay really true to the truth,” she says to herself, “because that’s how I got here.”

Lambert always writes true to life, even when it’s painful: his 2016 double album, The weight of these wingscame a year after her high-profile divorce from fellow superstar Blake Shelton, featuring heartbreaking tracks like “Vice” and ACM Awards Song of the Year winner “Tin Man.”

In her final interview, Lambert says that during this tough time in her personal life — and the overwhelming public attention she’s received — songwriting has been a source of solace.

“I wasn’t prepared for that. Well, I don’t think anyone is. And it’s not nice sometimes,” she admits, “But I think you have to take it with a grain of salt. salt, and knowing that I’m a singer-songwriter, so luckily I can tell all my truth. I won’t lie in my music.

This authenticity has remained a cornerstone of Lambert’s musical identity in happier times. In 2019, the singer surprised fans by announcing that she had married an NYPD officer named Brendan McLoughlin. She had kept the relationship out of the public eye until after their marriage. Lambert chronicled her experience of finding love again in her 2020 hit “Settling Down,” and McLoughlin even co-starred with her in the music video for the song.

“It’s like some kind of Hallmark movie or something,” Lambert laughs, reflecting on her marriage. “This redneck from Texas meets this handsome NYPD officer on the street in New York. But it actually happened that way.”

Featuring McLoughlin in the music video was “a beautiful moment to share with my husband,” the singer continues, adding that she doesn’t feel the need to suffer for her art, despite some of her biggest career hits being breakup songs. .

“Sometimes artists live in darkness and use it for their art, or whatever,” she says. “You don’t have to be tortured to be good. For example, you can write a sad song and not have to live every sad song you write. You know, that’s an impossible way to live and d ‘be.”

As for McLoughlin’s take on being married to a household name in country music? “He loves it,” Miranda says, talking about her husband’s reaction to starring in her video and appearing with her on red carpets and at events.

“He’s a real jerk. I mean, he’s got white teeth, blue eyes, ding! If there’s a camera, he’ll jump right in front of it,” she continues. “He’s just a very outgoing, outgoing person.”

Lambert proves his point on his new album, palomino, which is one of his most diverse and varied projects to date. The album contains a mixture of love songs and lonely heartbreaking hymns, but perhaps most of the audio time is devoted to character-driven travelogues, inspired in part by the lack of travel and of the singer’s dating during the COVID-19 pandemic.