Lainey Wilson has a gift for writing songs that hit right at the heart, and her emotional performance of “Middle Of It” proved just that. But what many fans didn’t know is that she almost never released the song at all.
During the show, Wilson opened up about the deeply personal story behind it. Back in 2022, while filming her first season of Yellowstone, her father, Brian Wilson, faced serious health struggles. That summer, he lost his left eye to a fungal infection — a heartbreaking time for the family.
“At that point in my life, I didn’t know how to process it,” Wilson told the crowd. “On one hand, I was so excited about everything happening in my career, but on the other, my heart felt like it was breaking.”
In conversations with friends, she found a simple but powerful truth: life isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about figuring it out as you go. “That’s when I realized I was right in the middle of it,” she explained. “So I poured all of that into this song.”
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Wilson later shared a video of the performance on Instagram, dedicating it to “everyone feeling smack dab in the #MiddleOfIt this time of year.”
The response was overwhelming. One fan commented, “This song has been getting me through it.” Another wrote, “Middle of it is such a comforting song.”
For many, Wilson’s honesty and vulnerability offered a reminder that even in life’s hardest seasons, none of us are walking through it alone.