Since the release of her first album, Blue, in 1996, LeAnn Rimes has been a tabloid magnet.
Asked what she’d say to the 14-year-old version of herself if she could give her some advice about forging ahead in her career, Rimes answered, “Gosh. I would tell her, ‘Don’t do it!’”
Rimes is joking. Maybe.
Over the course of her two-decade career, Rimes has earned two Grammy awards, one Country Music Association award, three Academy of Country Music awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, one American Music award, and countless sensational headlines about her romances, feuds, and personal struggles. The next stop for Rimes is the Honeywell Center in Wabash on October 12.
Early fame is hard for any child prodigy to handle. But Rimes appears to have emerged from the crucible of yellow journalism and seems at peace with herself and her life.
After she turned 30, Rimes decided to start taking better care of herself. She took up yoga, mediation, and talk therapy. She changed her diet.
In the wake of all this successful self-improvement, Rimes launched an inspirational blog called Soul of EverLe.
“I had always wanted to start a blog,” she said in an email interview. “I found such healing in songs and music. But it’s different when blogging or journaling, and I wanted to create a safe space for everyone to come and feel safe, grow, heal, and feel, and express love and creativity.”
The blog grew out of her attempts to finally unravel a complicated relationship with her mother.
Rimes addressed that relationship on “Mother,” a song from her most recent album of originals, Remnants. The song is about understanding and forgiveness after decades of familial strife.
Remnants consists almost entirely of songs in which Rimes tackles her demons. Some reviewers said it was her strongest release to date.
Rimes followed that up with Re-Imagined, an EP of remakes of some of her most popular songs. It included a duet with Steven Nicks on “Borrowed.” Rimes described working with Nicks as a “dream come true.”
“She is such an amazing human and, of course, an artist,” she said. “She’d actually seen me perform ‘Borrowed’ years ago on TV and she said she just sat there and cried. She could really resonate with the lyrics and told her team, ‘I want to record that song with LeAnn one day.’ And so that day finally came, and when I heard she wanted to collaborate, of course, I said, ‘Yes!’
“We had such a great time in the studio and I think the music doesn’t end there,” Rimes said. “I hope we will work together more in the future.”
Rimes has come to see herself as a healer. She’s always known that her music can have a healing effect on her fans, but now she’s exploring other ways she can restore and rejuvenate people.
She said she wants all the music she makes from this point on to be impactful and inspiring.
“(I want to) write songs that people can resonate with and relate to,” she said. “I always say I make music that I am feeling at the time. If it is soul, make a soul record; dance, make a dance record. I want to keep switching it up, keeping myself and others on their toes.”
Rimes said there is still a lot that she wants to accomplish with music and other creative pursuits.
“I am really excited for my upcoming Christmas movie with Hallmark called It’s Christmas, Eve, that premieres on Nov. 10,” she said. “I love acting and embracing other creative sides to myself. My blog, Soul of EverLe, was a longtime goal of mine and I’m really proud and happy to see how that has grown. For the future, there are many things in the works that I can’t share with you right now. But the journey will definitely continue and keep growing.”