The ladies of country music always bring it — that’s nothing new.
But this year especially, I feel like they’re coming with a vengeance, and some especially sassy, scorned songs that perfectly capture the feelings that come along with being cheated on, and obviously the desire for some sort of revenge, too.
For decades, cheating songs have been a hallmark of the country genre, and that’s easily one of my favorite kind of country songs, along with sad country songs, of course… I know, I should probably go to therapy, but I digress.
The old adage “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is timeless, and there’s just something about the way a cheating song makes you feel, even if you’ve never actually been cheated on, that is somehow universal. I don’t know exactly why, there’s probably some science to it, but there’s nothing that feels more empowering than screaming a good old fashioned country cheatin’ song at the top of your lungs.
I think the feeling of being done wrong when you didn’t deserve it is universal, either in a romantic relationship or any other kind of relationship, and that’s obviously at the heart of every great cheating song.
And this year in particular, some of the bad**s ladies at the forefront of country music right now have put out some of the best, most therapeutic cheatin’ songs I’ve heard in a long while, so I picked through my playlist and chose my top five to share with y’all, in case you need to hear one of these too (and if you’re anything like me, you definitely do for one reason or another).
Trust me, they’ve been tried and tested at full volume in the car, with the windows down on a back road (I promise it’s not as cliché as it sounds), and will save you so much money in therapy. They just get it, and I know the guys have released some great ones this year too, but obviously I’m a woman and these just speak to me on an entirely different level.
Each song is sassy, scorned (a little bit sad, duh) and you’re gonna want to add them all to your playlist ASAP:
“Alimony” — Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is the queen of scorned country songs, and she’s been doing it better than anybody in the business for over 20 years.
A boot-stompin’, throwback-style country song that can be played in massive arenas and small honky tonk beer joints alike, “Alimony” is pure country in every way and finds Miranda worried that a marriage is on the brink of ending.
Though, she is consoled by the fact that she will receive a pretty sum in alimony should they wind up getting divorced. It’s Miranda at her best, most authentic self as an artist, and I absolutely cannot wait to hear the rest of the songs on her forthcoming album Postcards from Texas that drops next month:
“Truck On Fire” — Carly Pearce
This has quickly become one of my favorite Carly Pearce songs, and easily one of my favorite singles released so far in 2024. Carly brought so much humor to her recent hummingbird project, and “Truck On Fire” is an incredibly amusing song that I’ve had on repeat since the album came out.
It’s a brazen, sassy tune where Carly calls out a no good, cheatin’ man for running around town behind her back, ignorantly thinking she wouldn’t find out what he was up to. And unfortunately for him, Carly was ready to take matters into her own hands…
You’ll have this one on repeat, and that’s a promise:
“I Know You” — Megan Moroney
If Megan Moroney gets cheated on, what hope is there for the rest of us? I kid, I kid… kind of (but not really, actually).
Written by Megan along with Ben Williams, David “Messy” Mescon and Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Meg calls out an ex for trying to play her when she knows good and well what he’s really up to with other girls… something he was also doing with other girls while they were in an exclusive relationship.
She’s finally wised up to his sneaky, slithery ways, though that doesn’t make the breaking up or moving on any easier. Unfortunately, I think it’s something a lot of ladies can relate to, and Meg summed it up perfectly here:
“Better Be Tough” — Ella Langley
A barnburner from Ella Langley’s debut album hungover, she turns the tables here and rather than simply absorbing all of the sadness and taking the blame for her gross, cheating ex, she calls him out for being the dumb**s that he is.
Written by Ella with Will Bundy, Erik Dylan and Brett James, I think many of us who grew up in the South will get a good laugh at the lyric “If you’re gonna be dumb, you better be tough,” which gets thrown around often down here.
Ella lists off tons of (brilliant) plans she has to get revenge, and I can’t wait to eventually hear this one live because it’s just brilliant and so damn funny:
“Ring Finger” — Lainey Wilson
The most recent song to be released from this list, Lainey Wilson absolutely brought it with “Ring Finger,” which is an easy standout from her very impressive fifth studio album Whirlwind.
After finding a strand of her that certainly didn’t come from her head, Lainey kicks her no-good ex-fiancé to the curb, and she also gets the last laugh because she kept the ring, and he just “got the finger.” It feels like a country song that should’ve been written 20 or 30 years ago, and is full of that signature Lainey wit that I love so much:
That’s it for my top five for now, what are some of your favorite cheating songs that have been released thus far in 2024?