Platinum

Album: Platinum (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This blond-ambition anthem is the title track of Miranda Lambert's fifth album. During an interview with Billboard magazine the comment was made that "it might seem cocky" to name a record 'Platinum,' though all of Lambert's previous long players have indeed gone platinum.

    "That's not what I'm thinking," she responded. "I mean, yeah, I'd love that - Mom says, 'Say it as though it's so.' I hope all my albums go platinum. But it's more about my life and my lifestyle." Which means, broadly: "Platinum is a lot of things: It's hair, it's diamonds and platinum, it's Bud Light Platinum, it's the color of an Airstream."
  • Lambert wrote this song with Nicolle Galyon and Natalie Hemby in her condo in Nashville on Music Row. She told Billboard: "The lyrics are funny, two of us are blonde, and we're just talking about stuff like that, 'can you believe we're sitting in a high-rise condo right now, from where we all came from?'"
  • The song features background vocals by Nicolle Galyon, Season 2 The Voice contestant Gwen Sebastian who sings with Blake Shelton on the road, and Aubrie Sellers, whose mother is Lee Ann Womack and stepfather Platinum producer Frank Liddell.

    Lambert recalled: "I wanted it to be like a bunch of girls gossiping. Some people get somewhere just by putting on a lower cut shirt and making there hair a little blonder. That's how some people do it, and that's fine too, whatever it takes. But I wanted that feel in the song when we cut it, 'let's get some girls in here and see what it sounds like it.'"

    "We just got in there and got some cocktails and started talking and singing, and that's what the songs supposed to be like," she added, "a gossipy girls song and kind of an anthem."
  • The Platinum album sold 179,000 units in its first week, to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 - the first time Lambert had topped the all-genre chart.

    The LP also reached the summit of Billboard Top Country Albums, making the Lambert the first artist in the history of the chart to see all of their first five albums debut at #1.
  • The initial spark of inspiration for the song came from Galyon. "It started off with Nicolle. She had a line, 'What doesn't kill you only makes you blonder,'" Hemby told Billboard magazine. "Miranda had one that said 'My heels and my hotels - they just got taller.' That made me laugh out loud."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Early Days of MTV

Early Days of MTVFact or Fiction

If you can recall the days when MTV played videos, you know that there are lots of stories to tell. See if you can spot the real ones.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The Remasters

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The RemastersSong Writing

Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.