📌 In This Deep Dive
Netflix’s drama Heartland anchors its story in the 2020 title song originally released by Nashville artist Hailey Whitters. Performed in the film as a duet between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Nettles, the track carries a dual meaning connecting a physical homecoming with the need to let one’s heart land. This breakdown explores the true origin of Heartland, how its lyrics mirror Misty Jones’ emotional journey, and what its message reveals about life’s unpredictable transitions.
Heartland has the benefit of turning Jessica Chastain into a country music star returning to Nashville, the city that launched her career, but that was probably just an excuse to bring out her “western” side. It is very likely she will stay in our memories not on stage with a microphone in hand, but wearing a cowboy hat with a gun in hand to defend the villa where her daughter is hidden. Like a modern female Clint Eastwood if Sergio Leone hadn’t passed away.
Even so, music is one of the main elements of the movie, and it is natural for people to be curious about it. Especially when it comes to the song that gave the film its title, Heartland: who wrote it, what are the lyrics, and why was this specific track chosen to represent the message of the movie?
Heartland on Netflix: Who Wrote the Title Song and What’s Its Meaning?
The soundtrack for Heartland features several original songs written specifically for the film by real-life country music stars, many of whom also joined the cast. Misty’s daughter, Charlie Hart, is played by singer Carter Faith, her boyfriend, Jace Jacobs, is played by Ross Lynch, and Misty’s old rival, Winnie Jo Lean, is played by Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Beyond appearing on screen, some of these artists contributed brand-new compositions debuting in the film.
But not the title track. The song Heartland was originally released in 2020 by singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters, who built her career right in Nashville. It was included on her second album, The Dream, and its meaning mirrors an important part of Misty Jones’ story in the movie.
Heartland is a song that reflects on the life of a young woman in her early 30s. Her ambitions, the effort to build a life, the desire to marry and start a family, and alongside all of that, a recurring need we all feel from time to time: the urge to return home, reconnect with the family that raised us, and let our heart land.
The title of the film and the song, Heartland, therefore has a dual meaning: it indicates both a central place, whether in a geographic area or in our character, and the need to give our heart a break, making it slow down, embracing it in the warmth of the family nest that raised us. And the original lyrics of the song, which in the film is performed as a duet by Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Nettles, explain the concept clearly:
Take it down a fast lane
Right back to your last name
To remind you where you came from
[…]
When life is out of your hands
Yeah, you gotta let your heart land
In the film, it is sung by Misty Jones, who in reality isn’t exactly at the age of reflecting on a life that has just begun. Her character, however, has many points of contact with the concepts expressed by the song. Both the track and the movie talk about an emotionally impactful homecoming: in the song, the writer returns to the house where she grew up, the one that bears “your last name,” while in the film, the main character returns to Nashville, the city that launched her and then disowned her.
The needs are different, as the return for Misty Jones is anything but a regenerating break for her heart. But the feelings are similar: a place that reawakens old emotions from when you were loved in the purest form. In the movie, Misty had the best years of her career as a young woman right in Nashville, and she performs Heartland now that those years belong to the past, together with the city’s other star, Winnie Jo Lean. Two mature artists who made the history of that city, finally next to each other again, without the rivalry that marked them in recent years.
Besides, the film presents Heartland to us as an old song written by Misty Jones when she was young, so in a sense those lines can coincide with the feelings that Hailey Whitters originally wanted to express in 2020. For both of them, the same lesson applies: you can never predict the way your life will transform, the experiences we accumulate change from year to year, and reflecting on what we are today will only have meaning in the short term. Then life “happens”, and new reflections will take the place of the ones that worry us today.
The full lyrics
Below you can find the full lyrics of the original song, Heartland by Hailey Whitters. We invite you to find the other points of contact on your own.
I should be married by now
Two kids in a paid-for house
I can hear ’em now
Askin’ what I’m doin’ now
I should have a little more to show
Than a suitcase smells like smoke
I should have an alibi
On where time goes when it flies‘Cause I’ve been on the rocks, I’ve been on the road
On the other side of every door closed
I’ve been on a limb tryin’ to catch a break
When something’s gotta give, sometimes you gotta takeTake it down a fast lane
Right back to your last name
To remind you where you came from
You’re still shinin’ in the same sun
It don’t matter how high
You’ve been floatin’ in your blue sky
Nothin’ gets you like goodbye can
When life is out of your hands
Yeah, you gotta let your heart landI can roll the window down
Feel the wind in my hair now
Find a station through the static
The old me while I’m at it‘Cause I’ve been on the rocks, I’ve been on the road
Pullin’ double shifts, the needle on low
Wakin’ up alone in the bed I made
Now would be a real good time to takeTake it down a fast lane
Right back to your last name
To remind you where you came from
You’re still shinin’ in the same sun
It don’t matter how high
You’ve been floatin’ in your blue sky
Nothin’ gets you like goodbye can
When life is out of your hands
Yeah, you gotta let your heart land
Oh, you gotta let your heart land, yeahYou gotta let your heart land
In the middle of nowhere
Oh, you gotta let your heart land
Sometimes you just gotta go there, just go there
And it don’t matter how high
You’ve been floatin’ in your blue sky
Nothin’ gets you like goodbye can
When life is out of your hands
Yeah, you gotta let your heart land
Oh, you gotta let your heart land, yeah
YeahYeah, gotta let your heart land
Yeah, you gotta let your heart land, oh
