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Hannah Ellis delivered a blazing message to a heartbreaker in her newly-released anthem, “Once,” the first single from the Kentucky-born artist since her debut full-length album arrived earlier this year.
Ellis pledged never to give a second chance to “a cheater” who breaks her heart in two, “serving up autobiographical lines alongside a hypothetical scenario,” per a press release that announced the 2024 ACM New Female Artist of the Year nominee’s newest song. Ellis paid tribute to her team of co-writers, which included her husband, Nick Wayne, in addition to Jason Duke and Jason Massey, who also produced the song.
Ellis released a powerful debut album in January, ranging from her energetic, “life of the party” personality to offering deeply vulnerable lyrics throughout the 13-track record. That Girl included “Country Can,” “Wine Country,” “Someone Else’s Heartbreak,” “Karma on the Rocks,” “Still,” “Too Much and Not Enough” and more. Ellis teamed up with her “Once” co-writers to pen some of the tracks that appeared on That Girl. She told iHeartCountry in the days ahead of her album’s release that “when I look at this project, there’s nothing panicked in me… It feels like a full thought. It feels finished.
“There's never been days where I didn't think this was what I was supposed to be. Not one,” Ellis said as she reflected on her journey in Nashville so far. “I felt it in my bones that night [the she took her sister to see the Hannah Montana movie and felt inspired to pursue a career as an artist], and I've known it ever since. I feel like (God) gave me a voice, literally and figuratively. He gave me something to say, and I think that I do have a unique way of saying it, and I think that it is going to resonate with people, and this record is just the beginning of that.”
Listen to Ellis’ first song since her debut album here: