Winding, clever, and reference-filled verses and anthemic choruses are Hailey Whitters’ signatures as a songwriter. Born in the tiny town of Shueyville, IA, the singer rode a dream of country stardom to Nashville in the mid-2000s, building a career by writing for other artists while struggling to find success as a performer. The 2019 acoustic ballad “Ten Year Town”—a meditation on her disappointments in the music industry—gained viral attention and acclaim from her peers, resulting in a set of tour dates with Maren Morris. The song was included on 2020’s The Dream, which won her critical praise and broadened her fanbase. The sunny and sassy “Everything She Ain’t,” a last-minute addition to her 2022 follow-up, Raised, became the breakthrough smash of Whitters’ career, hitting both country and pop charts. Her I’m In Love EP from the following year plays like an exuberant victory lap.