‘Ocean’ Is Lady Antebellum’s Most Honest and Vulnerable Album To Date

Want to know the real Lady Antebellum? Just listen to the trio’s brand new album, Ocean. The 13-track record finds Lady A returning to their roots with a collection of their most honest and vulnerable songs ever.

Ocean marks the Grammy-winning trio’s seventh studio album and first through BMLG Records after a long run with Capitol Records Nashville.

Signing with a new record label is something Lady A’s Dave Haywood said helped to drive the direction of the album.

“I just feel like there was this kind of environment that we cultivated of being fearless to kind of walk in and be vulnerable, have the courage to do what we want to do, record the songs we want to record and put out the songs we want to put out,” Haywood recently explained to Country Now and other media. “All that to say the environment was very supportive of us digging deep and sharing kind of our deepest parts of the last several years.”

Digging deep is exactly what they did. After hitting a bit of a rough patch as a band, not knowing exactly what direction they were heading in, the members of Lady Antebellum allowed themselves to be more vulnerable in their communications with each other and in their songwriting.

As a result, Charles Kelley said he believes they are stronger than ever, both on and off stage.

“We’ve kind of got a lot closer, and the really dark time that we had, it brought us into this realization and appreciation of where we are and what we get to do and kind of re-energized us moving forward,” Kelley shared.

Hillary Scott agreed completely.

“The times where you push through the awkward or the pain or the discomfort and communicate honestly, whether it be in songwriting or whether it be in a conversation with each other or someone we love it’s always worth it,” Scott acknowledged. “You always feel better on the other side of it. You always feel more understood and seen and known and valued. At least we’ve learned to do that. We’ve learned to communicate.”

Whether listening to the title track or songs like “Be Patient With My Love” or “Let It Be Love,” it’s clear that Haywood, Kelley and Scott held nothing back on this album and it’s something that they’re really proud of.

“Sometimes it’s just really important to write songs about who we truly are…I feel like this collection of songs, this is who we are,” Scott said. “I’m really proud of all of us for forging into that.”