With her first solo single in four years, Jo Dee Messina returns with a bang. “Just to Be Loved” takes aim at social media and the rat race we’re all running these days – just to be validated by strangers. “You’re perfect, you’re priceless,” sings Messina.

Co-written with Jess Cates, Jordan Mohilowski, and Tim Nichols, the song sparkles. Messina’s voice rings loud and clear, imparting an important morsel of wisdom in this terribly crippling digital age. “You look around at everybody’s highlight reel,” she sings over twinkling production. “Picture perfect, pretty lies it makes you feel like / Your life is underrated.”

In writing the song, she drew from real life of raising two young boys. “I’m seeing things that are coming across my phone from 12, 13-year-old girls, and it’s blowing my mind,” she tells Taste of Country. More than anything, the song details the prevalence of “comparing yourself to all of the things you’re seeing around [you], and the overflowing of information that’s coming in your direction. For young girls, especially, it’s really hard, because you feel like you gotta keep up.”

Messina fearlessly sings from the heart. She’s never sounded so good! We’ve been seriously, desperately in need of her brand of musical charm in our eardrums. The time is now. “You get lost when you start chasing / Everything you think you’re missing,” she sings, leading into the chorus, “but think what you’ve been missing / Just to be loved.”
Listen to “Just to Be Loved” below.

Messina is currently on the road with her Heads Carolina, Tails California tour. She next hits West Salem, Wisconsin this week. The tour ventures through the fall.