Lauren Watkins Delves Into the Depths of Heartbreak with ‘The Heartbroken Record’ [Exclusive]

Lauren Watkins admits she’s a “sucker for heartbreak songs” so when it came time to put together a collection of tracks for her debut album, it was only natural that the concept would center around the many different aspects and emotions of a broken heart. 

Out now, the 17-track project fittingly titled, The Heartbroken Record, was produced by Joey Moi and entirely co-written by Watkins, allowing her to introduce herself to fans through only the most authentic stories pulled straight from her real-life experiences.

“I am just a sucker for heartbreak songs. It’s all I write. When it came down to starting to put together an album, I was listening to all my songs and I’m like, wow, they’re all heartbreak in one way or another. The actual theme of the album came about when we wrote the song, ‘Heartbroken Record,’ which was actually way early on. I just sort of kept it in my back pocket, like this could be a really cool concept for an album.”

She continued, “My mom brought it up to me, too. She put the thought in my head because we’re always sending her songs and stuff that I write and she was like, ‘you should name the album that.’ I was like, wait, duh, that’s kind of a no-brainer. Then fast forward to when I was collecting songs, I was like, wow, they really are all great heartbreak songs, let’s just really lean into this.”

The Nashville-born artist certainly fulfills her responsibility as a songwriter by showing the good, the bad, and the ugly all while offering listeners some peace of mind in knowing that they’re not alone. However, Watkins doesn’t just cover the sadness that comes with being the one left with the heartache. 

One minute the Big Loud Records artist is diving into the mature realization that you can’t make someone stay in “Leavers Leave,” and the next, she’s letting her walls down in “Sad Songs and You” and then she’s openly reflecting on feeling envy after seeing an ex move on in “Jealous of Jane.” From top to bottom, listeners are faced with everything they need to overcome their own struggles, from resilience to sad songs to cry to and even revengeful anthems to help blow off some steam. 

“I started to think about how there’s not just one way to have your heart broken, there’s a lot of different ways. There’s a lot of different perspectives of it. Sometimes you’re not the one who’s having your heart broken. Sometimes you’re breaking someone else’s heart. And so I kind of wanted to cover as much of that as I could in the album, rather than it just being 17 slow, sad songs. I wanted to cover as much ground as I could,” she told Country Now. 

Even though heartbreak is the focus of this record, Lauren Watkins has since moved on from that chapter of her life as she is now a happy newlywed with her husband, songwriter/producer, Will Bundy. Just as she explained, the painful emotions of a cracked heart will never fully go away. They will continue to reappear for the rest of her life in different situations, which is why she felt it would still be fitting to cover this gravely emotional chapter with her fans. 

“I think God’s plan can be really ironic sometimes. I’ve been writing this album for years and all these songs are just a place that I was at in life. My now husband and I, when we were talking about getting married, I knew the album was about to come out and I was like, is this weird? And then I just sort of had this strong pull to stay the course. I think that I couldn’t go into the next chapter without getting all this heartbreak off my chest because the truth is, this is really a picture of what my life was like for a long, long time. It would be so wrong to just not share any of that because I’m happy now. This is so much of my life and so I wanted to still share it.”

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The Heartbroken Record is truly a powerful introduction to Watkins and raises the bar for the future of her career as she has cemented herself as a force to be reckoned with. With these 17 songs, there’s no denying her talent for songwriting or her ability to turn personal experiences into stories that are cleverly played out in a sound that resembles the outlaw era of country music, mixed with the modern-day production of artists like Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Morgan Wallen, etc. 

She elevates the project with the addition of featured artists Jake Worthington, Ashley Monroe, Carter Faith, and longtime musical hero, Sheryl Crow. 

The Heartbroken Record Track List:

1. Leavers Leave (Lauren Watkins, Lance Miller, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
2. Mama, I Made It (Lauren Watkins, Rocky Block, Lauren Hungate)
3. Heartbroken Record (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Caroline Watkins)
4. Sad Songs And You (Lauren Watkins, Lauren Hungate)
5. Set My Heart On Fire (feat. Sheryl Crow) (Lauren Watkins, Emily Landis, Summer Overstreet, Lydia Vaughan)
6. Stuck In My Ways (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, David Garcia, Emily Landis)
7. Gatlinburg (Lauren Watkins, Jessie Jo Dillon, Carter Faith, Lauren Hungate, Ashley Monroe, Caroline Watkins)
8. Anybody But You (Lauren Watkins, Rodney Clawson, Mark Holman, Ernest Keith Smith)
9. Settling Things (Lauren Watkins, Lauren Hungate, Luke Laird)
10. One Trick Pony (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Lydia Vaughan, Caroline Watkins)
11. Fly On The Wall (feat. Jake Worthington) (Lauren Watkins, Andy Sheridan, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
12. Shirley Temple (Lauren Watkins, Nicolle Galyon, Meg McRee)
13. Pretend You’re Coming Home (feat. Ashley Monroe) (Lauren Watkins, Ashley Monroe, Mark Trussell)
14. Jealous Of Jane (Lauren Watkins, Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Caroline Watkins)
15. Cowboys On Music Row (feat. Carter Faith) (Lauren Watkins, Jessie Jo Dillon, Carter Faith, Lauren Hungate, Ashley Monroe, Caroline Watkins)
16. Burn The Bridge (Lauren Watkins, Will Bundy, Emily Landis, Mark Trussell)
17. Too Much To Dream (Lauren Watkins, Forrest Finn, Nicolle Galyon)

Lauren Watkins spent her summer touring fairs and festivals nationwide in addition to taking the stage internationally as an opener on Morgan Wallen’s One Night At A Time World Tour throughout Europe. This fall she will join Maddie & Tae and Corey Kent as a special guest on their upcoming U.S. dates.