Dixie Chicks Drop Fiery Single ‘Gaslighter,’ First Taste of New Music in Years [LISTEN]
The Dixie Chicks are back, baby! The country trio are planning the release of Gaslighter, their first new album since Taking the Long Way in 2006, and they're finally ready to share the first song off that project with fans. The Chicks dropped Gaslighter's title track and first single on Wednesday (March 6), and fans can press play above to get a listen to the long-awaited new tune.
In addition to the song itself, the band also dropped a music video for the song on Wednesday. Kicking off with some vintage video footage and PSA-style voiceovers, the video quickly launched into the new song, interspersing shots of the trio singing in between old-school, black and white footage.
The band themselves even get the retro treatment, with clips of them in outfits inspired by old military outfits. Meanwhile, a contortionist dances in front of a trippy, futuristic backdrop.
It actually isn't the first time some fans have heard "Gaslighter"'s harmony-forward melody and driving, anthemic beat. In February, both frontwoman Natalie Maines and the band itself shared still images from the music video shoot for the song, and Maines also snuck a little clip of video from the shoot onto her own personal Instagram page. She took it down pretty quickly, but listeners got the message loud and clear: "Gaslighter" is a searing breakup song that doesn't hesitate to call out an ex-lover's misdeeds and low blows.
"Gaslighter, you liar / You had to start a fire, had to start a fire / Couldn't take yourself on a road a little higher," Maines sings, vocal harmony from her bandmates flanking her on either side. "Had to burn it up, had to tear it down / Tried to say I'm crazy / Babe, you know I'm not crazy / But you gaslighted / You're a la-la-la-liar...."
In a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, the Chicks explained that "Gaslighter" was actually the beginning of their songwriting partnership with producer Jack Antonoff. "At the time, we thought we were gonna write with a bunch of different people and get different producers," the band explains. "We wrote with him, and we were like, 'He needs to be the sound for this album,' because ... he blew us away. It was such a fun song to start with."
Back in September of 2019, Maines revealed the name of the Chicks' new album on the Spiritualgasm podcast, explaining that the band had originally planned on putting out a simple record of covers, in order to fulfill the last installment of their seven-album deal with Sony. However, Maines went through a difficult period in her life, and that re-stoked her love of songwriting.
"When I started getting a divorce, I had a lot to say, so that kind of sparked me being ready [to make new music,]" says the singer, who is currently in the process of divorcing her husband, actor Adrian Pasdar. "Songwriting is really hard for me, and I think, for many years, I didn't want to analyze my life or my relationship. I was just in it and dedicated and devoted...I just was not ready to open up like that."
Once they started working on new music, though, Maines and her bandmates realized that they were making some of their favorite work yet. "Our last album was the most personal and autobiographical we'd ever been. And then this one is, like, 10 times that," she hinted.
Fans can pre-save and pre-add the new album now on the Chicks' website. Gaslighter will be the Dixie Chicks' first new album since Taking the Long Way in 2006. Their career largely came to a halt after Maines spoke out against then-U.S. president George W. Bush and the country's impending invasion of Iraq during a show in London, England, in 2003.
The Chicks also haven't been on the road since 2017; the year before, the group embarked on their DCX MMXVI World Tour, their first trek to include North American dates in a decade. During her time on Spirtualgasm, however, Maines reported that a new arena tour is in the works.
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