Lainey Wilson’s ‘Wildflowers and Wild Horses’ Is a Hard-Earned Flex [Listen]

"Wildflowers and Wild Horses" was a singular choice for Lainey Wilson's next single, but it's fitting given the year she had in 2023.

Each of the CMA Award Entertainer of the Year winner's selections from Bell Bottom Country has brought something fresh to radio. "Wildflowers and Wild Horses" signals a subtle pivot to a more empowered artist in 2024 and beyond.

"I’m four-fifths of reckless and one-fifth of Jack / I push like a daisy through old sidewalk crack," she sings during each chorus (Trannie Anderson and Paul Sikes helped with the lyrics). "Yeah, my kinda crazy's still running its courses with / Wildflowers and wild horses." 

Related: Top 40 Country Songs of January 2024 [Power Rankings]

Before this song, we've heard her reminisce and seen her scorned. Her heart's been battered and she's known love and lost it. Wilson has played a sympathetic character, but grown stronger over the last 12 months. She closed her year standing on the Bridgestone Arena stage saying, "I am beautiful. I am smart. I am talented. I am Godly. I am fearless. If somebody tells me I can't do it, hold my beer and watch this."

"Wildflowers and Wild Horses" — which got its TV debut that night — picks up from there, building towards an emotional climax that doubles down on her mantra and brings us all along with her. It's the ultimate country hype song of 2024.

Did You Know?: At the chorus, Wilson sings, "I’m five generations of blazing a trail / Through barbed wire valleys and overgrown dells." A "dell" — as used in the nursery rhyme "A Farmer in the Dell" — is an overgrown hollow or river bed.

Listen to Lainey Wilson, "Wildflowers and Wild Horses":

Lainey Wilson, "Wildflowers and Wild Horses" Lyrics:

Wildflowers and wild horses

In the middle of the night / I hear a cornfield coyote cry / Up at the moon no matter what / Sky I'm laying under / In the eye of a hurricane / When I got one foot in the grave / I'll dig my boots into the dirt / And face the rolling thunder.

Chorus:
I’m five generations of blazing a trail / Through barbed wire valleys and overgrown dells / I'm barefoot and bareback and born tough as nails / Whoa, whoa, whoa / I’m four-fifths of reckless and one-fifth of jack / I push like a daisy through old sidewalk cracks / Yeah, my kinda crazy's still running its courses with / Wildflowers and wild horses.

It's in the water in my veins / That bread of heaven falls like rain / So I'm taken care of either way / Make something out of how I'm made / Until I hitch a ride on glory's train.

Repeat Chorus

Repeat Chorus