On This Date: Miranda Lambert Releases Her Fifth Studio Album, ‘Platinum’

Miranda Lambert sitting in a train

Celebrating 7 years of Platinum.

On this date in 2014, Miranda Lambert released her fifth studio album, featuring hits like “Little Red Wagon,” “Automatic” and “Smokin’ and Drinkin’,” along with some killer songs that never made it to radio like “Babies Makin’ Babies,” “Gravity Is A Bitch” and of course the title track, “Platinum.”

The album would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best Country Album, as well as the CMA Award and ACM Award in the same category.

Not only that, but it marked Miranda’s fifth consecutive debut at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, which made her the first artist in history to start her career with five albums debuting at the top of the charts.

So, needless to say, it’s a moment that marked her career and cemented her at the top of the mainstream world for what’s been a pretty lengthy run at this point.

What’s so special about Miranda and her music, though, is that she’s somehow managed to straddle the line between mainstream country music appeal while simultaneously keeping her roots in the Texas country sound.

Critics love her for her deep, meaningful lyrics that are as well-crafted as they come, along with her willingness to say exactly what’s on her mind without regard for what anyone else will think. The mainstream loves her for her catchy, sing-along melodies and made-for-country-voice.

And it’s rare that you find an artist who’s able to satisfy both crowds.

But Miranda really can do it all. She has an all-female, pretty badass band in The Pistol Annies, and even a band which is comprised of Miranda and two of her favorite Texas co-writers, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.

Of course, most recently, she released the incredibly raw and stripped-back acoustic album, The Marfa Tapeswhich I think will be another important marker in her career when we look back on it one day.

Platinum, though, is one of those albums for me that never gets old. For some reason, it seems like it’s not often at the top of people’s list when it comes to their favorite Miranda albums, but I love it.

It’s girly, it’s clever, and it has so many little hidden gems of songs that are, in my opinion, some of her best.

The album came out when Miranda was 30 years old, and hit the scene at a time when bro-country ruled the charts.

But on a personal level, the album came at a time when Miranda was starting to slow down a little bit and realize what was most important to her.

She told Rolling Stone back then:

“I’ll still shoot a two-timing man if I need to. But I’m not just burning houses down anymore.

I have more to sing about.”

And I think that’s what I love so much about it. She still had that edge that made her the sassy Miranda Lambert we all know and love, but there’s a lot of maturity and reflection in the songs as well.

It’s pretty lengthy, too, coming in with a total of 16 songs on the tracklist.

So many of them are just plain funny and kind of jab at southern traditions, and it seems she was figuring out there’s a lot of them you could really do without, and some you should hold on tightly to.

Between men, marriage, babies and everything else, she really figures herself out on this record.

Maybe it’s just because I relate a lot to where she was in life when she wrote it all, but I seriously believe it’s one of her best works when you look at it as a whole.

So in honor of it’s 7th anniversary, here’s a few of my favorite songs from Platinum that you may not have heard before, or if it’s been awhile since you listened, that you may have forgotten about:

“Bathroom Sink”

“Babies Makin’ Babies”

“Another Sunday in the South”

“Gravity Is a Bitch”

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STAY ENTERTAINED

A RIFF ON WHAT COUNTRY IS REALLY ABOUT

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