Shane McAnally has made a thriving career out of writing songs for other artists. But oftentimes, his own truth is embedded into the songs he writes. This is true for Miranda Lambert‘s “Vice.” As the first single Lambert released after divorcing from Blake Shelton in 2015, “Vice” finds her in a dark place, singing of feeling numb and lonely. Another vice, another call / Another bed I shouldn’t crawl out of / At 7 AM, with shoes in my hand / Said I wouldn’t do it, but I did it again / And I know I’ll be back tomorrow night, she sings in the vulnerable chorus.
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Lambert teamed up with hit writers and frequent collaborators McAnally and Josh Osborne to pen the pain-soaked track that is just as much McAnally’s truth as it is hers. Below, McAnally shares why it’s one of the most honest songs he’s written.
The Meaning Behind Miranda Lambert’s “Vice”:
“There are a lot of songs where I told the truth, at least from my own experience or from the experience in the room. ‘Vice’ by Miranda Lambert is a song that comes to mind because there was a lot going on in her personal life at that time, and mine too,” McAnally said. “Josh Osborne was able to help us both edit our stories in a way that they sounded like they were congruent and they didn’t run into each other. As Miranda and I both started telling what was going on with each other, it’s like, ‘Me too, me too.’
“That song when I hear it, it’s almost hard to listen to because I know what she was going through at that time. To me, that is songwriter gold when it’s almost too hard to listen to because it brings up a lot of a lot of those feelings,” he continued. “I think having the opportunity to catch her in a very vulnerable moment when she had some truth to tell, ‘Vice’ really feels like it was the perfect time in wanting to tell the truth. That song feels like the most honest song I’ve been a part of.”
[RELATED: American Songwriter May/June Cover Story: Miranda Lambert—Finding Balance]
On Miranda Lambert’s Legacy:
“She had an amazing career before [‘Vice’], but she’s gone on to continue to reign. I think she’ll be remembered as the the probably best songwriter/artist of all time, with maybe the exception of Dolly [Parton]. I think the length of time that Miranda has been able to make records with stellar songs, the best songs, that many records consistently, there’s not a spot in her entire body of work that someone can go, ‘She got off track right there.’ And she continues to do it.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for CMT
