Russell Dickerson wants you to know that his new song “Happen to Me” is not an interpolation. The lyrics are personal, but in a different kind of way.

“I was like, I need a set list banger,” he admits during a conversation with Taste of Country Nights. Find the full interview during this week’s Taste of Country Nights On Demand podcast.

• “Happen to Me” is Dickerson’s new radio single, from an upcoming album.
• Lifetime, the Tennessee native has four No. 1 songs on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
• The Russellmania Tour began in March, with dates into the summer.

Jessie Jo Dillon, Chase McGill and Christopher LaCorte helped Dickerson write the lyrics to “Happen to Me” and he recorded the song a year ago, at the same time he cut “Bones.”

It’s an up-tempo lust-after-love song that finds a guy happy to be the rebound man for a girl who recently had her heart broken.

“We kind of gave a nod to Cyndi Lauper with the ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.’ Not an interpolation, but we did give writer credit,” Dickerson shares.

Russell Dickerson, “Happen to Me” Dance

Robert Hazard wrote Lauper’s 1983 pop smash, which explains why — 16 years after his death — he’s listed alongside the co-writers for “Happen to Me.” On social media you can find video of Dickerson covering that song as well. It’s fitting, because that’s where this new song really found its legs.

A “Happen to Me” TikTok dance (recreated here by the ToC crew) went viral, leading to Dickerson’s biggest streaming days of his career. He says he’s pulling nearly a million streams a day on some days, and the song isn’t even two months old.

“I’ve never been this viral thing and I’m not trying to be,” he shares. “I think it’s a great song, and people are catching on to the feel-good vibes and just the goofiness of the dance, which is just my personality.”

There is something Everyman about the dance. Unlike others that have come and gone in country music, one doesn’t need a particularly great sense of rhythm to do it. If you can move your hips, point to the sky and act a little silly, you’ve pretty much got it down.

Dickerson’s self-deprecating sense of humor shines through in his version. Quickly one understands why his live audiences love “Happen to Me.”

Russell Dickerson, “Happen to Me” Lyrics:

I don’t know who broke up with who / But she’s in here chasin’ tequila with High Noon / Don’t know how long she’s been movin’ on / Maybe five weeks or five minutes, but it can’t be too long / And we did that what’s your name thing / Where you from and what’s your favorite drink / She said, shut up, come and dance with me / And now she’s singin’.

Chorus:
Girls Just Want to Have Fun at the top of her lungs / Don’t even know she’s ’bout to wreck someone / And, boys, I’m in trouble now, ain’t even tryna get out / So come on, baby, take me down, down, down, yeah / Don’t know what happened tonight / Don’t know what happened last week / Don’t know what happened to her / But she’s ’bout to happen to me / She ’bout to happen to me.

She’ll probably be the one that got away / But right now, I’m takin’ every second I can take / So we keep talkin’ / And we keep drinkin’ / Oh, and I keep on fallin’ / And she keeps on singin’.

Repeat Chorus

Oh, we keep on talkin’, and we keep on drinkin’ / And I keep on fallin’, she keeps on singin’ / Girls, mmm, girls, mmm.

Repeat Chorus