Lainey Wilson’s “Kinda Love It” Is a Newlywed Anthem Co-Written With John Mayer

Lainey Wilson didn’t think she’d ever write love songs. Then she got married, and now she can’t stop. The country star released “Kinda Love It” on Friday — an upbeat, sun-soaked single about exactly the thing she swore wasn’t her lane — and the punchline is that it might be the most honest song she’s ever put out.

The writing room tells you everything about the ambition here. Wilson co-wrote “Kinda Love It” with John Mayer, Kid Harpoon and Jon Decious, and Mayer isn’t just a writing credit — he’s playing guitar on the track, too. According to iHeart’s report on the Friday-morning press release, the single is an “infectious, upbeat” anthem that “explores new sonic territory for Wilson and captures the thrill of being swept up in an exciting, yet unpredictable romance.” New sonic territory is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and it’s the right call: this is Wilson letting the sunlight in.

The romance in question isn’t hypothetical. The song was written from her newlywed life with husband Devlin “Duck” Hodges, the former NFL player — and Duck is right there in the official music video with her. Whiskey Riff’s write-up has the sweetest detail: the video shows the couple riding around their Tennessee property on a four-wheeler, living their best newlywed life on camera. This isn’t a concept video. It’s a couple who got married five months ago and decided to let everyone watch.

And here’s the part that gives the song its teeth. The lyrics find Wilson admitting she never thought she’d settle down — there’s a running “tiger by the tail” motif about a wild card she can’t quite control — and then landing on the confession that she loves her life exactly as it is now. Whiskey Riff notes that Wilson has said she simply wasn’t inspired to write love songs before Duck came along. He changed the writing, and then he changed the writer: their song “4X4XU” went on to top country radio, which is what happens when the muse is also the reason you’re smiling in every photo.

The Mayer connection is becoming a real creative partnership, not a one-off. Wilson and Mayer previously teamed up on “Phone, Keys, Wallet,” with Mayer on guitar there too, and that one climbed into the Top 15 at country radio. She also released “Can’t Sit Still” earlier this year, and joined Miley Cyrus on a duet version of the pop star’s emotional ballad “Younger You” — a full-circle moment iHeart was right to flag, since Wilson worked as a Hannah Montana impersonator as a teenager. From impersonating Miley to duetting with her: that’s not a career, that’s a movie.

Some quick receipts on the romance, because the timeline matters. Wilson married Hodges on May 10 at the Ruskin Cave in Dickson, Tennessee, just outside Nashville. They met on a blind date in 2021, and he proposed at the estate of the late George Jones — Wilson told iHeart that moment “could not have been more perfect.” You don’t need to be a country fan to feel the weight of that: proposing at Possum’s house is the most Nashville sentence ever written.

And the professional context is almost unfair to everyone else in the genre. Wilson is the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, and she’ll host the CMA Awards for a third consecutive year next month. Think about that run for a second: the biggest trophy in country music, the biggest hosting gig in country music, and now a single co-written with John Mayer about how happy her marriage is. Lainey Wilson isn’t having a moment. She’s having a year.

She’s also not the only one having a Friday. Per KFDI’s Country Music Minute, today is genuinely stacked across the genre: Tigrlily Gold released the album Country & Midwestern; Chase Matthew dropped the single “Started From The Holler”; Maddie Font, formerly of Maddie & Tae, officially launched her solo career with “When a Woman Stops Crying”; Kip Moore is back with a new album and the single “Dyin’ on the Vine”; and Logan Mize’s album Cottonwood Falls arrived today along with the single “Park The Truck.” That’s a full day’s worth of country in one drop cycle — but let’s be honest about the pecking order. The reigning Entertainer of the Year with a John Mayer co-write is the headline, and everybody else is the very good undercard.

What’s most interesting about “Kinda Love It” is what it says about where Wilson goes from here. The press release language — “new sonic territory” — suggests an artist who knows she’s conquered the traditional lane and is now allowed to play. Mayer’s guitar gives the track a sheen that country radio hasn’t quite heard from her, Kid Harpoon brings a pop sensibility that’s already proven at the highest level, and Decious is a Nashville pro. It’s a room built to make a crossover record without calling it one. The CMA performance next month is going to be appointment television — you can already picture the staging.

For now, though, the story is simpler and better: a woman who didn’t write love songs found the person who made her start, and she brought her famous friends into the room to help her say it. “Kinda Love It” is streaming everywhere now, with the video — four-wheeler and all — ready to watch. Today’s New Music Friday roundup has the rest of the day’s drops, and this morning’s music roundup has the wider industry picture. Also worth your time: Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” just crossed a billion Spotify streams — the queens of country are having quite the week.