Wilson turned the “4x4xU” hook into a gently rising melody that was very close to Decious, and the phrase became the opening line of the chorus. The next line, “From the bayou to Kentucky,” added to the truck’s travel vibe in a personal way.

“She’s from the bayou and we’re from Kentucky,” Raitiere said. “We put all these little, little nuggets in there. Hopefully people will hear it on the second listen or something.”

These two lines had a subtle verbal connection – the “4×4 by you” sounds like the “Bayou” – and they added a few more passages in the rest of the chorus. In the second verse, they changed those communities and covered New York, Los Angeles, and a few cities with quirky names.

“We just wanted to take them everywhere,” Raitiere says. “And then Timbuktu; I've been incorporating Timbuktu into songs for some time. Kalamazoo rhymes with Timbuktu. These just seem like strange words. In fact, someone from Kalamazoo came up to me and said he was so proud to have Kalamazoo in another song.”

When they formed the opening verse, they instinctively chose a cinematic approach. The lens of the plot first focused on the singer sitting in the moving vehicle with the shotgun, then on the man in the driver's seat who has his “hands 10 and 2 on my heart.” This is one of the little things mentioned by Raitiere: the steering wheel numbers that determine the future all-wheel drive.

In verse two, they parked the car, reduced their speed “90 to zero,” and added more numbers to the text again. When they reached the bridge, the conspiracy appeared to have abandoned the vehicle and turned the camera on the sun, stars and moon.

“I love this contrast,” says Decious. “You know, the idea of ​​four-by-four is so down-to-earth and so tangible, but the idea of ​​space and time is very intangible. That's why I love the contrast between them. I think it was just a coincidence that we went there, a happy coincidence.”

When Wilson presented “4x4xU” to producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Miranda Lambert), the track was layered with multiple keyboards, including soulful electric piano and church organ sounds, during recording at Neon Cross Studio. The bridge received special treatment with a reworked set of more challenging chords and a fermata – a longer hold, while electronic pieces create an otherworldly atmosphere.

“Jay does that a lot,” Wilson says. “It takes you into space, so to speak. It'll kind of take you somewhere in the clouds, and then when you get back into the chorus, it's almost like it brings you back down to earth. If you can feel both of these feelings – if you can feel grounded and rooted, as if your feet are on the ground, but also as if your head is in the clouds – then it is very special to me “To be able to feel both at the same time song.”

Another unusual moment in “4x4xU” occurs in the latter half of verse two, where the band breaks into double time, which is in direct contrast to the “slow motion” lyric.

“That was my only production note,” Wilson says. “I thought, 'How about we delve a little deeper here and get a little sexy?' And Jay was game for it.

The fan base reacted strongly to “4x4xU” and the song continues its steady climb up the charts, reaching No. 28 in its sixth week on the October 19 Country Airplay chart and No. 32 in its fifth week on the corresponding Hot Country Songs chart. Equally important, it plays a key role in Wilson's concerts.

“I still felt like we were missing something that was a big moment, a kind of 'put your hands in the air, swing back and forth,'” she says. “Honestly, it’s all about the live show.”