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

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Rock Stars of Horror

Rock Stars of HorrorMusic Quiz

Rock Stars - especially those in the metal realm - are often enlisted for horror movies. See if you know can match the rocker to the role.

Frankie Valli

Frankie ValliSong Writing

An interview with Frankie Valli, who talks about why his songs - both solo and with The Four Seasons - have endured, and reflects on his time as Rusty Millio on The Sopranos.

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Kip Winger

Kip WingerSongwriter Interviews

The Winger frontman reveals the Led Zeppelin song he cribbed for "Seventeen," and explains how his passion for orchestra music informs his songwriting.

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.