Lady Antebellum’s ‘What If I Never Get Over You’ Is the First No. 1 Hit They’ve Gotten to Share With Their Kids
When Lady Antebellum's 2019 single "What If I Never Get Over You" went No. 1 at country radio, it was more than just the first time the trio could celebrate a chart-topping hit since 2014. It was also the first time their children were old enough to remember the milestone.
Between the three of them, Lady Antebellum have six children: Hillary Scott has three daughters, the oldest of whom was born in 2013 -- just a year before the group notched their last No. 1 hit, "Bartender." Charles Kelly has a son who was born in 2016, and Dave Haywood's two kids were born in 2014 and 2017.
"We got a call a couple weeks ago that the song went No. 1, and we did a toast at my house," Scott shared at a party celebrating "What If I Never Get Over You." "My husband Chris opened up a bottle of champagne, and we always have the sparkling grape juice for [our oldest daughter] Eisele because she loves to be a part of it ... so she got to kind of understand what it was, and really, in her lifetime, this is the first No. 1 that Eisele will know. Which was super cool, to be able to talk to her about that."
Jokes Kelley, "My kid, on the other hand, my wife asked him if he wanted to come [to the No. 1 party celebrating the song] and he said, 'Nah, I'm okay.' He wanted to stay at school and play."
Haywood, meanwhile, had convinced his son to come to the party. After all, celebrating a chart-topping hit isn't an everyday occurrence for Lady A: It had been six years since the last time they got the opportunity to do so.
"This is a big moment for us as a band. It just validates so much of what we've been wrestling and fighting for, which is returning to the music that speaks to us," Haywood points out. "So this is definitely a moment in time that we're thrilled to share with out families."
The success of "What If I Never Get Over You" is also a particularly poignant milestone for Lady A because the song is a return to the sound they established on hits including "Need You Now" and "I Run to You." The group's 2019 studio album, Ocean, marks a new musical chapter, though: It is their first record since leaving their longtime label home, Capitol Nashville, and signing to Big Machine Label Group.
"With Big Machine, I think we felt like we were kind of starting over again," Haywood explains. "It was a bit of a return to form for us ... and they've been so supportive, like, 'Y'all are Lady A, go find the music that speaks to you.'
"When you have that permission, it feels like you can do whatever you want," he points out.
In their quest to get back to the kinds of songs that bolstered them through the early days of their career, the band rediscovered the joy and excitement of being in the studio. "It felt like the early days again," Haywood remembers. "Having fun. Making music in the studio. Making songs that we all believed in, and all unanimously loved."
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