Lauren Alaina Admits She Didn’t Tell Luke Bryan She Sampled His Lyrics in ‘Thicc As Thieves’

Back in 2011, you couldn’t escape the earworm that was Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).” It peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on Hot Country Songs and has sold over 3 million copies.

Over a decade since its release, Lauren Alaina still can’t shake that song out of her head.

She and Lainey Wilson recently dropped their track “Thicc As Thieves,” with lyrics that compare squeezing into a pair of jeans to “busting out the tin like some Pillsbury biscuits” after being “blessed by the cornbread mamas been fixin’.” Celebrating their bodies, Lauren sings, “Oh my gosh, Lainey! Look at your butt. How’d you get those bell bottoms yanked up?” And Lainey sings back, “Oh my Lord, Lauren! Look at that juicy peach. Did you have to jump in them britches?”

But even though the song is brand new, you might recognize some familiar lyrics toward the end of “Thicc As Thieves.” Speaking with Macie Banks on The Highway about the song, Lauren admitted she sampled Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” — without telling him.

“To put someone else’s song in your song, you have to ask them for permission,” Lauren explained. “I recorded it and asked for forgiveness.”

“We just did it and then sent it to him, and we were like, ‘Hey, is this okay?’ And he FaceTimed me!” she revealed. “And he was like, ‘Lauren.'”

Back in 2017, Lauren went on her first tour ever as an opener for Luke on his Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day Tour, so their friendship goes back a long time. It was also a time when “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” was still wildly popular, and Lauren described hearing it performed on tour as extremely impactful. “People were freaking out every night,” she remembered.

She said the sample in “Thicc As Thieves” is “a nice little nod to [Luke],” the first person to ever take her out on tour: “He’s been so good to me in so many ways.”