Lady Antebellum

Since teaming up in 2006, Lady Antebellum has sold over 18 million units and had nine No. 1 singles on the country charts. They have won seven Grammy awards (including both Record and Song of the Year for “Need You Now” in 2010), and they were the first artists in the history of the CMA Awards to win Single of the Year in back-to-back years. All of this making music country music that Kelley describes as “a little bit rock and roll, a little bit of pop, a little bit of R&B thrown in, just because that’s what we love—Dave and I grew up in Augusta, Georgia, the home of James Brown, and Hillary grew up in Nashville, and we just kind of mix it all together.”

When it came time to incorporate that sound for Heart Break, another key element was producer busbee, whose previous work with Lady A includes the No. 1 hit “Our Kind of Love,” and who has recently collaborated with the likes of Maren Morris and Keith Urban. “busbee pushed us into a really neat place and he’s such an integral part of this new chapter for us,” says Haywood.  “He challenged us, pushed us, he never settled for just an ‘ok’ vocal performance in the studio….or a mediocre lyric. Having known him for nearly eight years really made us all comfortable enough with each other to be open and say exactly what we felt.” The group’s desire to shake things up made evident by the album’s first single, the swaggering “You Look Good,” which came complete with a funky horn arrangement. “I’d been begging for horns on a song for years!” says Scott. “One of my favorite songs growing up was ‘Sir Duke’ by Stevie Wonder, and that feel transports you to another place. It was the perfect song to embody the excitement and fun that we had making this record.”