Lainey Wilson is about to be really, really busy. The country music superstar is getting ready to embark on her Whirlwind World Tour, while also planning her wedding to Devlin “Duck” Hodges. In the middle of all of the busyness, Wilson is trying to soak it all in.

“I wanna remember these days. I worked too damn hard to not remember it,” Wilson says in a resurfaced interview with Joel Madden on his Artist Friendly podcast, adding that it’s understandably hard for her to live in the moment.

“I know you’re not supposed to worry about the future and all of this, but for us, at times you have to be prepared for whatever it is that’s happening next week,” she remarks.

Fortunately, Wilson has a new perspective on life, even the busy days, thanks to a conversation she had with Melissa Etheridge.

“Another thing I’m learning about that is something that Melissa Etheridge shared with me during Grammy week,” Wilson recalls. “She told me about the 85 percent rule. I wrote it down. I was like, ‘I need to remember this.’ She said for years, she’d get on stage and feel like she needed to bleed out on stage, and leave it all out there, just killing herself to make people feel something. And she learned about this 85 percent rule, where she’s just saying, ‘You’re leaving yourself a little bit of room, to not set yourself up for just walking off stage and feeling defeated, like you let yourself down.

“And, I tried to kind of shift my mindset a little bit,” she adds. “Because everybody else thinks you’re giving 100 percent. But when you do leave yourself a little bit of that grace, it makes a big difference.”

Because of Etheridge’s advice, the “4X4XU” singer is finally able to enjoy how far she has come, as well as see where she wants to go in the future.

“I feel like I’m able to zoom out a little more, and I have a little more discernment about where things are than I did last year,” Wilson says

Wilson took the first part of 2025 off, thanks to the advice of another superstar, Miranda Lambert, who has since become a close friend.

“She was like, ‘It’s so important for me to get out there and scoop the poop and throw the hay and catch the horses. Those are the things that remind you what’s really important,’” Wilson tells NME.

Wilson’s Whirlwind World Tour kicks off on March 4. Until then, she is soaking up all the time she can at home with Hodges.

“I’m looking forward to sitting around a bonfire at night and waking up late and sitting on the porch with my dog,” Wilson reveals. “I’ve been touring solid since I was in eighth grade.”

Find all of Wilson’s music and upcoming shows at LaineyWilson.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of CMA