"It Felt So Good To Finally Say Fuck You": Pillbox Patti Tells It Like It Is as She Enters Her "Villain Era" on New Single 'Damn Near Spectacular

Pillbox Patti isn't the kind of songwriter you'd want to piss off under any circumstances, especially not the circumstances she found herself in at the end of a record deal last year. On her new single, 'Damn Near Spectacular' she finally gets to tell her side of the story, unfiltered and without compromise. If you're in her line of fire, you might want to take cover.

Also known as Nashville hit songwriter Nicolette Hayford, she has been crafting unflinchingly honest songs for everyone from Little Big Town and Koe Wetzel to Lainey Wilson and Ashley McBryde - whose Lindeville project she took a star turn in - since she rolled into town almost fifteen years ago.

The last time we heard from her was on her debut project, the post-apocalyptic country pop mini-masterpiece, Florida, a tantalising smorgasbord of G-funk beats, booming basslines and colourfully empathetic portrayals of growing up on the gritty underside of suburban America that had as much in common with Sleigh Bells or M.I.A. as it did Kris Kristofferson, John Prine or any other of the country music’s great character writers.

"This isn’t just outlaw, it’s full on gangsta country," Holler wrote at the time.

Released on Monument Records, at the time it felt like Pillbox Patti was poised to be one of pop country's biggest breakthrough artists, especially when the deluxe version of Florida dropped in late 2023, but now she returns to us two years later without a label, newly independent, unleashed, raw and uncut, with a thinly veiled tongue-in-cheek diss track aimed at her former label’s management.

"I was really scared for a long time," she told us. "Because most people aren’t trying to walk away from a record deal, even if it’s a shitty one. I had been in such a toxic situation that had been building for a long time and I was in a place where I couldn’t call people out for being assholey to me, which felt very unnatural to me. I knew I had to just fake it and get through it and not jeopardize getting out or make it messy."

"This was the first song I wrote about it," she says about 'Damn Near Spectacular,' written by Hayford with Lucky West and Katelyn Tarver and produced by Park Chisolm. "It was a blast and it felt so good to finally say fuck you."

"I was in LA, at Lucky’s studio in his awesome house in Altadena which he tragically lost in the fires," she told us, remembering the writing session. "I had never met him or Katelyn before and we just had the most fun day."

"I remember I got official news that I was out of my deal while on that writing trip in LA," she says. "I was kinda not sure if I should mention it to my co-writers, because some writers would be like, 'Well what the hell are we doing here then' in their head, ya know? But, everyone out there was so dope and were like, 'Hell yea! Congrats!' and having drinks with me and celebrating."

"The truth is, I was in such a bad place from everything that went down, I wasn’t sure I was going to release music again," said Pillbox Patti. "Only a few people know how dark that whole experience actually got for me. I went on a writing trip to LA when I got the news that I was officially out of my deal. I was so relieved. We celebrated in every room and 'Damn Near Spectacular' is a result of one of those sessions. I finally felt free enough to be like, 'you know what? Fuck y’all for that.' I’m grateful and I’m hateful cuz that shit was whack."

With its bold, sarcastic lyrics and typically dry humour, 'Damn Near Spectacular' is a bold statement of intent that perfectly encapsulates Pillbox Patti’s trademark insouciance and fearless punk spirit, throwing everything from spaghetti western scores to dark, brooding trip-hop and perky '90s chart pop into her bubbling country cooking pot.

"I'm the bitch they love to hate / Mercury in retrograde / Kind of stale but its a piece of cake," she drawls, staring you down with her no-fucks-given no-shit-taken attitude. "I'm generally unfazed / And I'm out like every night, looking shitty in fluorescent lights / I'm Damn Near Spectacular."

As part of a larger narrative about artists leaving or being dropped by big labels because they don't fit in with what those big labels know how to market, especially in country music, Pillbox Patti's triumphant return feels like a story that will not only resonate with other artists, but also be a guiding light for them in these dark, difficult-to-navigate times.

"I'm certainly not ungrateful for that experience with that label," she concludes generously and philosophically, explaining how this new chapter is less about rebellion and more about reclamation and retribution, driven by a newfound freedom and self-belief in her own creativity.

"I think it's ok to stand in gratitude for the opportunity and what you learned and embrace your own power at the same time."

'Damn Near Spectacular' is out on April 18th.