Hailey Whitters Succumbs to Heartbreak in Dive-Bar Epic, ‘The Neon’
Check out a real-deal, tear-in-your-beer anthem.
Rising star Hailey Whitters waits for heartbreak to take its toll in a dramatic new country anthem, sharing her gripping dive-bar epic, “The Neon.”
Sounding like a symphony of regret, with orchestral strings and Whitters’ weary Iowa vocal capturing an uneasy state of emotional change, the track follows a woman who knows exactly where her breakup will lead. Co-written with Rodney Clawson, Lori McKenna, Whitters suffers through an oncoming flood of pain and rushes into the neon arms of her favorite hang, nursing her wounds and the bottle alike. Ultimately, she sings, “the sad part” is just a fact of life.
Following the recent release of “Everything She Ain’t,” Whitters also shares a Harper Smith-directed lyric video that was filmed at the beloved Nashville dive bar, Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge. She says “tear in your beer” style country is kind of her thing.
“I wrote ‘The Neon’ with Lori McKenna and Rodney Clawson about a broken-hearted bender on the town,” Whitters explains. “It was our first time writing together and Lori brought in the title. I think the next line that came out of the room that day was ‘here comes the sad part’ and we instantly knew it was this ‘tear in my beer’ type lyric. I love getting to tap into this song emotionally every time I sing it. Whenever I’m feelin’ blue, there’s no broken heart a barstool and a cold beer (or shot of tequila) can’t fix.”
“Here comes the neon, here comes the sad part / Salt on my wounds, some blue on my broken heart / The stars we strung our dreams on / We shot ‘em all out one by one / I’m turnin’ off this porch light I always said I’d leave on / Here comes the neon / Gonna meet up with a couple friends / Somewhere the heartbreak ends / Gonna get back on that barstool again,” goes the chorus hook.
Like “Everything She Ain’t,” “The Neon” will soon be part of Whitters’ Raised album, which is set to arrive on March 18. She’s currently out on her first solo headlining tour (The Heartland Tour), and will also head to the U.K. for this year’s C2C: Country to Country festival in March.
