May 25--Last year the country foursome Little Big Town crept onto pop radio with "Girl Crush," its steamy waltz-time ballad about a woman who wants to drown herself in another woman's perfume.
Now the group is pushing even harder for a Top 40 breakthrough: For its upcoming album, "Wanderlust," Little Big Town teamed with Pharrell Williams, the producer and songwriter behind huge pop hits like Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Ed Sheeran's "Sing." (There's also his own "Happy," of course, which topped the Hot 100 in 2014.)
The album isn't out until June 10 -- a relative eternity by today's surprise-drop standards -- but this week Little Big Town released a single, "One of Those Days," ahead of its performance on the season finale of "The Voice."
Light and bouncy in Williams' familiar style, the song retains the group's signature vocal harmonies but sets them against crisp synth-pop textures; its melody also seems to nod to a fresh inspiration in Madonna's "Like a Virgin."
In a statement, singer Karen Fairchild said the unexpected collaboration with Williams began with a single writing session but quickly led to a series of trips between Nashville and Los Angeles.
"When the songs started coming together," she added, "we realized it was too special to not share with our fans."
Twitter: @mikaelwood
