''The Weight of These Wings'' is the sixth studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...

. It was released on November 18, 2016, via

RCA Records Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Current artists *Kane Brown *Andrew Jannakos * Miranda Lambert * Niko Moon (RCA/River H ...

. The album consists of two discs, with Disc 1 titled ''The Nerve'', and Disc 2 titled ''The Heart''. The album debuted at No. 1 on the '' Billboard'' Country Albums chart and No. 3 on the all-genre US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and has been certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to winning Album of the Year at the 2017

ACM Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

, it is considered by several music publications as one of the best albums of the year. In 2020, the album was ranked at 480 on ''Rolling Stone'''s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Background and music

In an August 2016 interview with '' Billboard'', Lambert stated she had been working on the album for a year, which included writing and recording. She admitted she was nervous about her new music since she had mostly stayed quiet while writing it. Songwriter Luke Dick was one of the musicians who worked on the album. He co-wrote "Highway Vagabond" with

Natalie Hemby Natalie Nicole Hemby Wrucke (born March 24, 1977) is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Kacey Musgra ...

and

Shane McAnally Shane McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Originally a solo artist for Curb Records in 1999, McAnally charted three singles on Hot Country Songs, including the No. 31 " Are Y ...

. He found the line "I want to go somewhere nobody knows; and I want to know somewhere that nobody goes" while waiting at a deli and not willing to mix with other people. This became a road song with the word "vagabond" at the center, with a production sounding like country Siouxsie and the Banshees. The album's content is about her divorce with

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

and her subsequent relationship with Anderson East.

Release and promotion

The album was released on November 18, 2016, through

Singles

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

" was released as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

on July 18, 2016. In its first week it sold 64,000 copies and debuted (and peaked) at number 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart. It ultimately reached a peak of number 11 on the Country Airplay chart. As of March 2017, the song has sold 508,000 copies in the United States. " We Should Be Friends" was released as the second single on December 12, 2016. It was a Top 30 hit on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. " Tin Man" was released as the third single on April 3, 2017, immediately following Lambert's acoustic performance of the song on

52nd Academy of Country Music Awards The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the 2017 ACM Awards, were held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 2, 2017. Nominations for the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards were announced on February 16, 2017. Luke ...

. It peaked in the Top 20 of the Hot Country Songs chart, and the Top 30 of the Country Airplay chart. "Keeper of the Flame" was released as the fourth single on April 16, 2018.

Critical reception

''The Weight of These Wings'' received widespread acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 81 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 11 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

rated the album at five out of five and in his review stated "It may have mainstream songs, but ''The Weight of These Wings'' isn't produced like a country-pop album, so it demands attention and rewards close listening." Paul Grein of ''HITS Daily Double'' predicted the album to be in contention for Album of the Year at the

60th Annual Grammy Awards The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 28, 2018. The CBS network broadcast the show live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was moved to January to avoid coinciding with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeong ...

. ''The Weight of These Wings'' won the award for Album of the Year at the 2017

. It marks Lambert's fifth consecutive album to win the award, a record for any artist or group.

Accolades

Awards

Track listing

All tracks produced by

Frank Liddell Frank Liddell (born November 13, 1963) is an American record producer. A former artists and repertoire director at Decca Records, he founded Carnival Music in 1999. Liddell is also married to singer Lee Ann Womack, for whom he has produced. O ...

, Eric Masse, and

Glenn Worf Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler. Early life and education Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Mad ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from

.
Vocals *Chris Coleman – background vocals *

Madi Diaz Madi Diaz (born May 14, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Early life Diaz grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where she was home-schooled by her Peruvian mother, Nancy, a proponent of early childhood development and t ...

– background vocals * Anderson East – backing vocals on "Getaway Driver" and "Pushin' Time" *

– lead vocals *

– background vocals *Annalise Liddell – background vocals *Eric Masse – background vocals *Aaron Raitiere – background vocals *

Luke Reynolds Luke Reynolds (born April 20, 1979) is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, artist, writer and producer. Career Studio work As a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, he has worked with Sharon Van Etten, The Staves, Adrian Utley, ...

– background vocals *Frank Rische – background vocals *Lillie Mae Rische – background vocals * Gwen Sebastian – background vocals *

Lucie Silvas Lucie Silvas (born Lucie Joanne Silverman, 4 September 1977) is a British singer-songwriter. Early life Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, her father is from New Zealand and is of Jewish descent; and her mother is Scottish and is Christia ...

– background vocals *

– background vocals Musicians * Chris Carmichael – strings, string arrangements *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

– drums, percussion *Chris Coleman – electric guitar, drums, violin, percussion, synthesizer, trumpet *Spencer Cullum – steel guitar, lap steel guitar *Louis Newman –

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

*Lex Price – bass guitar, acoustic guitar *Luke Reynolds – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, synthesizer *Frank Carter Rische – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lor ...

– piano *Glenn Worf – bass guitar, electric guitar, piano *Scotty Wray – electric guitar Production and imagery *Daniela Federici – photography *Tracy Baskette Fleaner – creative direction and design *Becky Fluke – photography *Brittany Hamlin – production coordination *Tiffany Gifford – styling *Johnny Iavoy – photography *Moani Lee – make-up *Eric Masse –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Annalise Liddell – engineering assistance *Frank Liddell – production *

Gavin Lurssen Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California.mastering *Chris Taylor – assistant, recording, mixing *Glenn Worf – production

Commercial performance

''The Weight of These Wings'' debuted at No. 1 on the '' Billboard'' Country Albums chart and No. 3 on the all-genre US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, moving 133,000

equivalent album units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

in its first week of release. It sold 122,000 copies, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales. It is Lambert's fifth straight album to debut in the top ten of the ''Billboard'' 200, following ''

'' (No. 1, 2014), ''

Four the Record ''Four the Record'' is the fourth studio album by American country music singer and songwriter Miranda Lambert. It was released on November 1, 2011, by RCA Records Nashville. This was her first studio album to be released from that label after a ...

'' (No. 3, 2011), ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

'' (No. 8, 2009) and ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'' (No. 6, 2007). In its second week of release, the album moved 36,000 units and was in the No. 9 position on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Following the

on April 2, 2017, where Lambert won multiple awards and performed " Tin Man", the album moved 31,000 units, including 23,000 in pure sales, and jumped from No. 192 to No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The album was certified Platinum on July 10, 2017, and it has sold 438,600 copies in the US as of August 2018.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Source:

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weight of These Wings, The 2016 albums Albums produced by Frank Liddell Miranda Lambert albums RCA Records albums