'the wild' explores what it means to be female in a patriarchal society and will be featured on Rimes' new album, 'God's Work.'
LeAnn Rimes is making a statement. The artist has enlisted the talents of GRAMMY-nominated country vocalist Mickey Guyton and renowned percussionist Sheila E. for her powerful and empowering new ballad, "the wild," out today.
"The song is about the patriarchal world that has shaped us as a society, especially women," Rimes says in a statement. "The silencing and fracturing of ourselves in order to fit into the pretty and polite societal box, throughout generations. It's a battle cry to unite women to reclaim every part of our truest nature and no longer allow our wild, our 'unholy' to be ignored, shamed and rejected.
"It's full of rage," she continues. "The kind of rage that calls us home. Rage that ignites change and says, 'I have been here all along, waiting for you to return to your wholeness.'"
The haunting track, written and produced by Rimes alongside her longtime collaborator, Darrell Brown, is featured on Rimes' upcoming full-length, god's work. The album is set to be released on Sept. 16.
“My new album as a whole looks at the duality of life, the light and the dark, and I believe that is most apparent in ‘the wild,’” Rimes says.
For god's work, Rimes made the conscious decision to stylize with an all-lowercase album title and track listing, explaining, "If we’re arguing about why the 'g' is or isn’t capitalized, we're missing the whole point. It's so important for us to focus on the messages, rather than the nuances."
'the wild' is the fifth song to be released off Rimes' upcoming album. Earlier this year, the 39-year-old shared a swoon-worthy video for her song, "how much a heart can hold," sharing personal moments from her wedding to Eddie Cibrian and beyond.
The visual, which was released in honor of the couple's 11th wedding anniversary on April 22, begins with a slideshow of sweet black-and-white images from Rimes and Cibrian's big day, and continues to flash through some of the couple's most treasured memories over the last decade-plus. The touching tribute ends with the pair walking hand-in-hand as Rimes' melodic voice trails off in the background.
"Last year on our 10th anniversary, I posted a little snippet of a song I had written for Eddie on our wedding day. I had never shared this before and the response to 'how much a heart can hold' was overwhelming," Rimes told ET at the time. "I couldn’t keep up with the requests from my sweet fans asking for the full track."
"As we were finalizing my new record, god’s work, I decided to head back into the studio and add it to the track list at the last minute," she explains. "Even though I wrote this song for Eddie for our wedding, it feels like the sentiment fits this album, perfectly. After 11 years of 'how much a heart can hold' being just ours, the overwhelming outpouring of love, convinced us it was time to share it with the world, so that other people could have the opportunity to make it a part of some of their most memorable, tender moments too."
god's work is set to feature Ziggy Marley, Aloe Blacc, Ben Harper, Ledisi, and more notable musicians. Fans can pre-order the album HERE.
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