When the sixth season of Queer Eye premiered on Netflix in December, the “Fab Five” took viewers to Austin, Texas, embarking on a new round of lifestyle makeovers — including grooming, fashion, nutrition and even home makeovers–changing peoples’ lives inside and out. Queer Eye fans also heard new music from native Texan and country music hitmaker Miranda Lambert, including the delightful romp “Y’all Means All,” which appears in two episodes during season six.
“From what I’ve learned about the show, they do like to add local flavor of all kinds,” Lambert tells Billboard. “I had watched the show; I sat at my farm one weekend by myself and binged every episode I could find. I sat there crying for two days, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such a feel-good thing that I didn’t know I needed in my life right now.’”
After Netflix reached out to Lambert about writing and recording a song to be featured in the series, she called upon longtime collaborators Luke Dick (a co-writer on her Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper “Bluebird”) and Shane McAnally (who co-wrote “Vice” and “Mama’s Broken Heart,” among other Lambert songs).
“Luke and Shane were like, ‘Hell yeah, this is right up our alley,’ so we went over to Luke’s,” Lambert says. “We just got to bring out our fun, inner Texan. Netflix was great about sending some notes and making sure we were getting the message across for the show. I haven’t done a lot of writing for specific things for television and movies and stuff, so it was fun to try something different.”
Asked about her favorite line from the song, Lambert says, “‘Where my chattahoochies at’ is pretty freaking awesome. And I love ‘Dip it like a Dairy Queen’ — because we all know as Texans and Southerners, we call it the Texas stop sign. The song is just really fun and I’m really honored to be part of it.”
Lambert also turned to her brother Luke Lambert, who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, for support on the song. Her brother’s journey previously inspired her to record “All Kinds of Kinds,” which was included on her 2011 album Four the Record. She also recently featured her brother and his husband in the music video for her first dance remix, the Telemitry edit of “Tequila Does.”
Lambert says that her brother Luke not only gave his support as she crafted a song to be included in Queer Eye — he supplied the song’s title.
“I texted him and said, ‘Hey, do you have any cool sayings or phrases? I’m headed into the writing session.’” Lambert says. “I was on a group text with Shane and Luke Dick, and I was like, ‘I’m asking my brother for some notes. I want to know what the cool kids are saying.’ My brother texted me a few and ‘Y’all Means All’ was one of them. I called my brother and I was like, ‘I owe you a beach trip somewhere, because we’re using your line.’ But I guess right then, all around Texas, there were T-shirts with ‘Y’all Means All’ — so it was perfect timing.”
Through supporting her brother in his own journey toward coming out publicly, Lambert says she has learned—and continues to learn—how to be a good ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I think it’s just realizing, No. 1, that I should be a little more outwardly supportive — because I do have a platform that I’ve built with my career, to support things that I really care about. And I’ve also learned that I will never learn it all. I’m constantly trying to be understanding and inclusive.”
She calls her brother and his group of friends and her brother-in-law “just some of the greatest people” that she knows. “I have so much fun with them,” she continues. “And they’re so good about not judging you if you don’t know everything, and just being like, ‘Here’s what’s cool. Here’s what’s happening now,’ and I appreciate that. We grew up — me and Luke — in a tiny town in East Texas, and we weren’t open to the world like we should have been, in some ways. So if I can be part of it in any way and cause some good change, I want to.”
Lambert hasn’t been the only one speaking out for LGBTQ+ rights within the country music community recently. The past year has seen Brothers Osborne member TJ Osborne publicly come out as gay, as did singer/songwriter Brooke Eden. Newcomer Lily Rose, who has had a breakthrough hit with “Villain,” is also part of the LGBTQ+ community. Lambert says she is grateful to see artists within the country music community being bold about sharing their true selves.
“I’m just so thankful, because I feel very sad that anyone couldn’t just be them because of the genre or something,” she says. “It breaks my heart, because I mean, those are all great artists. I’m such a huge fan of Brothers Osborne, and friends with them. I think it’s so brave. I’m all about being authentically yourself as an artist and as a human. I would wish that for every single person. I feel like some of these brave souls are paving that way, and I’m loving it.”
Currently, Lambert is gearing up to reignite her The Bandwagon Tour on May 6 with Little Big Town, and is prepping the release of a new album, led by the first single, “If I Was a Cowboy.”
“We are finished and now we’re just tying the bows on all that stuff. I really got to hone in on this project because we wrote most of it in 2020,” she says, noting that the bulk of the album was written at her Tennessee farm. “There are very few writers on this project. ‘Cowboy’ is the first peek of that. I think that was the last one I wrote for this project and the first one we released. [The album] has a vibe and it’s different than I’ve ever done, but it’s obviously still me. When I sing, it’s straight-up country, no matter which way I twist it. But yeah, it’s got a bit of a thing to it, that’s all I’ll say.”
Over the past year, Lambert has released the acclaimed acoustic album The Marfa Tapes with Jon Randall and Jack Ingram and her feisty duet with Elle King, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).” While Lambert previously collaborated with tourmates Little Big Town on the 2015 single “Smokin’ and Drinkin’,” she says it is possible more joint efforts could be ahead.
“I was thinking about another version of some of the songs [on the album], because I’ve turned it into the label already,” Lambert says. “But I’m kind of on this vibe of whatever comes along, let’s try it. Since I’m going out on The Bandwagon Tour with Little Big Town, I’m hoping there may be a crossover at some point of getting them on a song or two.”