Maddye Trew “Single of the Year” (SINGLE)

Country music is in its “main character era,” and honestly? It’s never been more fun. Gone are the days when the genre was boxed in by pickup trucks and porch swings. These days, the most exciting music coming out of Nashville isn’t afraid to flirt with pop, get a little ironic, and throw a glitter bomb at tradition. Just look at artists like Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, and Jelly Roll — or the fact that even Beyoncé (Cowboy Carter) and Chappell Roan (Pink Pony Club, anyone?) are crashing the country gates with rhinestoned flair.

URL: https://www.maddyetrew.com/

Enter Maddye Trew, a Memphis-born singer-songwriter who might not have Beyoncé’s marketing machine or Jelly Roll’s tattoos, but brings something else just as potent: personality. Her new single, “Single of the Year,” is a cleverly written, tongue-in-cheek banger that threads the needle between classic country storytelling and modern pop-country sparkle. It’s relatable, replayable, and refreshingly self-aware — and in a genre that sometimes still takes itself a little too seriously, that’s a win.

From the opening line — “At this point a breakup would be catchin’ a break” — Trew sets the tone: she’s not crying into her beer, she’s raising it like a trophy. The song’s premise flips the idea of a CMA-style honor into a snarky consolation prize for being the most heartbreak-prone woman at the party. “All my friends are tying the knot / and I’m over here just tying one on” is the kind of lyric that could easily have become a TikTok catchphrase if Shania Twain had written it in 2024.

Produced by Grammy-winner Steve Marcantonio (Taylor Swift, Reba, Keith Urban), the track is slick but not soulless. There’s a bounce to the instrumentation — shimmery guitars, barroom piano licks, and a rhythm section that practically winks at you — that keeps the whole thing moving. It feels like something you’d blast while getting ready for your ex’s wedding (or avoiding it entirely). Think of it as country’s answer to thank u, next — with more denim and fewer apologies.

Trew’s voice is warm and expressive, carrying just the right amount of sass and sincerity to sell both the humor and the heartbreak. She’s in on the joke, but she’s not just the punchline. The bridge pulls the curtain back for a brief moment of truth — “To tell you the truth, I don’t wanna accept it” — before diving right back into the chorus like a toast at a pity party turned girls’ night.

What makes “Single of the Year” so satisfying is that it doesn’t try to be more than it is — a sharply written, infectiously catchy track that celebrates the silver lining of romantic disaster. It’s a slice of life wrapped in wit and wrapped again in a hook you’ll be humming for days.

As country continues to redefine itself in the wake of genre-hopping chart-toppers and crossover chaos, songs like this show the power of keeping things personal, playful, and a little bit messy. Maddye Trew isn’t rewriting the country rulebook — she’s just doodling something hilarious in the margins. And if “Single of the Year” is any indication, she deserves a seat at the next big table — wedding invite or not.

Mark Druery