Dixie Chicks Share New Song, ‘Julianna Calm Down’

The Dixie Chicks have indefinitely delayed the release of their new album, Gaslighter, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the band shared more new music with fans on Thursday, releasing a new song, “Julianna Calm Down.” The song, produced with Jack Antonoff, was named after band member Emily Strayer’s daughter and encourages women to look inward for strength when their romantic relationships end.

“Julianna, calm down / You know he’s about to leave but don’t panic / Don’t give him the satisfaction that you can’t handle it / Breathe / It’ll be okay,” Natalie Maines sings at the beginning of the song. “Just put on, put on, put on your best shoes / And strut the f— around like you’ve got nothing to lose / Show off, show off, show off your best moves / And do it with a smile,” she offers in the chorus.

“We actually have a song called ‘Julianna Calm Down,’ and that’s my daughter’s name,” Strayer told Zane Lowe on Apple Music last month. “She was a little mortified at the beginning. But now every time she gets all worked up, her brothers are like, ‘Julianna, calm down.’ So she’s a little mortified about that but it’s a good start to the song. It is exciting since we’ve been working on it for two years.” The song also includes several other names including Violet, who is also Strayer’s daughter, and Eva, Katie, and Harper, who are band member Martie Maguire’s daughters.

Gaslighter was scheduled for release on May 1, but the group’s record label, Columbia Records, said in a statement in April that the project will be delayed. The message shared that “the release of their highly anticipated fifth studio album, GASLIGHTER originally scheduled to drop on May 1, 2020, via Columbia Records, has been postponed. Additional details are forthcoming.” Gaslighter will be the Chicks’ first album in 14 years after their 2006 effort Taking the Long Way, for which they won five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year. Maines, Maguire and Strayer released Gaslighter‘s title track as its lead single in March. That song, and much of the album, is about Maines’ recent divorce from estranged ex Adrian Pasdar.

“Well, we’re definitely out of practice,” Strayer told Lowe of releasing new music. “It’s just as painful as it was to do all the artwork. We check our own typeset and we do all of that and so it’s a little bit nerve-wracking.”