Women in Country Wednesday: "I'm in Love"
A fun & summery love song from #prairiegirlfeminist Hailey Whitters.
Hello and welcome back to Women in Country Wednesday!
As May wraps up, I think it’s safe to say we’re all embracing summer with open arms. This week’s WCW recommendation, “I’m in Love,” fully embraces summer love with its cheeky lyrics and Whitters’ 90s flair.
I first fell in love with Hailey Whitters’ music after her breakout hit “Everything She Ain’t” in 2022. In fact, I loved her music so much that I saw her open for Jon Pardi AND Lainey Wilson in Gilford, New Hampshire. At the time, I had no idea who Jon Pardi or Lainey Wilson were (crazy), I genuinely just went to see Hailey Whitters perform. I can confirm three things: Hailey Whitters is even more beautiful & talented in person, Lainey Wilson gave the most energetic performance I’ve ever seen, and Jon Pardi is the himbo cowboy of my dreams.
This was a transformative concert for me for two reasons: 1) I saw two phenomenal Women in Country just as their careers skyrocketed and 2) against my will, I saw Jon Pardi gyrate (yes, gyrate) his hips like Elvis in rural New Hampshire. This is the chaotic beauty of country concerts—you always leave with more than you’ve bargained for.
Now that I’ve drilled that visual into your head (if I had to experience it, we all do), let’s get back to the song.
Today’s recommendation is “I’m in Love” by Hailey Whitters. It’s a fun & fresh summer song that captures the pastoral magic of love. From her aesthetics to her lyrics, Whitters effortlessly captures the girl-next-door niche of country music because she is the girl next door. As country music critic Grady Smith notes, Whitters brings a “femininity and confidence” to her music, echoing 90s country queens like Trisha Yearwood and The Chicks. Whitters is confident in her sense of self, embracing her gingham prairie dresses and Iowa roots (corn comes up a LOT in her music, including this one) in one fell swoop. It’s a countryfied spin on lipstick feminism, or what I’m calling prairie-girl feminism.
In “I’m in Love,” Whitters’ sharp, brassy voice (a la The Chicks) cuts through a happily strummed acoustic guitar. The song has a simple premise and joyously describes the summer shenanigans of her family on the farm: “Daddy's in the doghouse, corn's in the ground / Sister's in her room smokin' God knows what / He's in a Chevy and I'm in love.”
The lyrics are playful and slightly eye-rolling, but that’s the fun in it! “I’m in Love” unapologetically leans into the stereotypical topics of country music—family, farm life, and love—because that’s what Hailey Whitters exalts in her own life and music. “I’m in Love” may sound a little frivolous, but the lyrics are just specific enough to make you believe there’s a kernel of truth behind each one (now I’m talking about corn).
So if you’re ready for a prairie girl summer, put on your favorite frilly dress, do your hair up real nice, get lost in a cornfield, and add “I’m in Love” to your rotation.
Listen to “I’m in Love” and my previous WCW recommendations here.
Edit: a previous version of this article confused “no blue in the blood” as a sly remark against the Blue Lives Matter movement, but I was wrong. The phrase “blue blood” refers to noble ancestry, not the police. All related commentary has since been removed from the article.