Lainey Wilson Believes God Had a Plan for Early Career Rejection
By Movieguide® Contributor
Country star Lainey Wilson says early career rejections made her even more determined to make it in the music industry.
“I think a lot of the rejection really just kind of made me want it that much more,” she told Fox News. “I am hardheaded. I really am, and if you could sit down and talk to my parents, you would realize why I am the way that I am. Both of them, when they have their mind made up, that’s it. And I’ve had my mind made up from the very beginning that I was going to do this.”
Wilson has been working in the country music industry for 13 years, but it wasn’t until recently that she had her big break. She took home her first Grammy this year.
“I think it’s really just a part of my story. And I think the Lord kind of wanted me to live a little bit more life so I could have more stories to tell, so I could relate to more people,” she explained. “That’s what it’s about when you kind of zoom out and you think about all of this. It’s important to remember and realize, why are we doing this? And what are we doing this for? It’s just because we all want to feel something. And, I think, because of that rejection, I think people can relate to some of my stories.”
Wilson has also credited her career success to her family’s farming history. Movieguide® previously reported:
Country star Lainey Wilson credits her upbringing from a “long line of farmers” for her strong work ethic.
“I truly do think it is from being from a long line of farmers,” Wilson told Fox News. “I mean, on my mom’s side and my daddy’s side. They rolled their sleeves up. They got to work every single day and had good years and bad years, but at the end of the day, they loved it.”
She continued, “So that meant that they got up and they did it again, and they’d fall down and they’d do it again. They just had no other option and my daddy has always tried to remind me that he worked really hard, but he’s not just working hard for himself. He’s working hard for me and my sister and my mama and my sister’s kids and one day my kids.”
Wilson said that’s something “important to keep in mind” when her job gets hard because it’s “just life.”
“It kind of takes a little bit of pressure off of you when you take yourself out of it, I guess it makes working hard a lot easier,” she said.
Wilson often speaks about her farming roots. In her Grammy acceptance speech for Best Country Album, the singer said, “I am from a farming community in Northeast Louisiana. A little town of 200 people. I’m a fifth generation farmer’s daughter and I would consider myself a farmer too. And everyone I surround myself with, I think they’re farmers too.”
“But they’re story farmers,” she continued. “It’s about getting up every single day and planting those seeds and watering ‘em and watching ’em grow. And sometimes when you find the right farming community you can have the harvest of the lifetime. And I truly believe that and I think exactly what this is tonight.”
Wilson recently marked another major career milestone — she was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.
“Somebody pinch me…I’m going to become a member of the @opry on June 7!” she tweeted. “This is the moment little Lainey dreamed about ever since her first trip to Nashville.”
