Miranda Lambert Says She Hit Career ‘Burnout’ Last Year

Miranda Lambert is opening up about a patch of career "burnout" that hit her last summer — and the lasting changes she's making to keep a better work-life balance.

During her recent appearance on Bunnie Xo's Dumb Blonde podcast, the singer says she got to a point where she'd lost some of her passion for pursuing music. At that point — in the summer of 2023 — she'd been in country music's mainstream for over 20 years.

"I reached a pretty high level of burnout last summer and I didn't realize what it was," she explains, "Until I was like, 'I think this is what they call burnout.' Just from not taking a break, or a long enough one. A couple of days at a time just wasn't enough for the amount of business."

It wasn't that she wanted a permanent change, she adds. "It wasn't burnout where I was like, 'I'm quitting forever.' It was just one of those moments," she continues.

Around that time, she and her husband Brendan McLoughlin took a much-needed break, going on an international vacation to countries including Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Now, she says that she's trying to be more mindful about slowing down.

"I feel like we need to learn balance. It's really hard, when you're so driven, to relax into doing nothing," Lambert continues. "If you don't recharge, you're only operating at 50 percent anyway. The recharging is so important. It's just hard to do."

It seems that a summer travel break is becoming an annual tradition for Lambert: She and McLoughlin recently returned from a two-week break, during which time they went to Italy.

"They just do life better over there. Everything's slowed down," the singer describes. "We're just chaotic Americans chasing all our dreams and doing everything really fast."

Still, she says, she'd never want to leave the chaos behind permanently.

"I love that part about home, and I miss it when I'm somewhere really quiet like that," she admits. "It's fun for a few days and then I'm like, 'Where's all the action? Where's the loudness?'"

Carena Liptak is an Associate Editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in breaking country music news, interviews and lists. In particular, she’s got a soft spot for sad songs — check out her roundup of the 50 Saddest Country Songs of All Time!