A glowing new era for beloved Australian singer-songwriter Ella Hooper will unfurl in 2026, set to release her third studio album Overnight Success on October 2. Weaving Americana charm with authenticity and poise, the announcement of Ella’s new upcoming album also arrives today with a warm and disarming new single When The Shit Went Down, along with a national album launch tour set to kick off in October in Victoria before heading through Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra.
Balancing intimate subject matter with glossy twang, warm melodies and Ella’s magnetic vocals, When The Shit Went Down was fittingly recorded in the Americana capital of Nashville. Ella tells how recording this track offered deep catharsis, capturing real-life experiences helping her work through them in real time – “It feels scary and amazing to be sharing such a personal track as a single,” Ella shares, “a blow by blow of some of the crazy shit me and my family went through in the last few years. I feel liberated, exhilarated, proud, wobbly, emotional, staunch. Yes, that’s a real mixed bag! But it’s the vibe I was trying to nail. It might just be my favourite song off the album…”
Teaming up with Australian-born, Nashville-based producer LOLLIES to bring When The Shit Went Down to life, Ella also unlocked a sought-after creative aesthetic in the process. “Recording When the shit Went Down with my producer LOLLIES at the helm was a ride!” says Ella. “She had access to some of the coolest players and studios, where a lot of the alternative country and Americana that I love is made – like working with Jon Estes at his studio, he also engineered and played bass on the track – and recording at the Bomb Shelter in East Nashville where all the hip cats hang. The track really came alive to my ear when Trevor Bahnson added the Byrds-esque 12 string electric guitar line, I love how wonky it is.”
“I’m always chasing an aesthetic that I call ‘shitty shimmer’ which basically means that the sound or song is rough but beautiful,” Ella adds, “and Trevor nailed it with that guitar line. I literally jumped for joy. When a song cracks open for you, in the studio, there’s no better feeling.”
Drawing to mind the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams, fused with Ella Hooper’s signature flair, Overnight Success also ultimately reflects the very foundations of Ella’s artistry, with enthusiasm, authenticity and wit beating deep at the core of the album’s 11 tracks. Opening with the poignant toe-tapper Growing Up Is Hard To Do, Ella journeys through tracks ready to soundtrack a whiskey-soaked saloon soiree (I Got Eyes (On You), bluegrass by way of alt-pop (Bad Word), and tongue in cheek country-soaked delights (Cowboy Man) From here Overnight Success dabbles between stripped-back ruminations (Let It Fall), languid beauty (Slow Morning), luminous melodies and glowing Americana backdrops (Just Along For The Ride), poetic narratives and glistening arrangements (When The Shit Went Down), sparkling percussion and intimate vocals (2B or Not 2B (Light Grey)), and open-veined vulnerability forged with Americana synths (Die Happy). And it’s on the album’s closing and title track that Ella soars to beautiful heights, backed by stripped-back acoustics, serene harmonies and old-world, with an old-world, single spotlight worthy melody that will radiate deep within you long after the album has concluded.
“I’ve been itching to announce and release this album,” shares Ella, “trying to stay calm through delays, changes of team, a few one step forward two steps back moments; which I’m learning are just par for the course for an independent self-managed muso… but I’m ecstatic that it’s coming into focus now and that in a few months the people who have been following along will get to explore the whole ‘Overnight Success’ world, and hopefully a few new folks too”
An undisputed icon in the Australian music scene, Ella Hooper’s acclaimed career has seen her tick off a #1 album, sold out tours, multiple award wins, Rolling Stone covers, radio and TV hosting and hit singles along the way that have helped shape and shift the course of Australian pop culture forever. Fronting Killing Heidi and catapulting into superstardom with their debut single Weir, the group would go on to take home four ARIA Awards for their 2000 debut full-length Reflector, while Ella herself went on to become the first-ever female, and youngest person, to receive APRA’s Songwriter of the Year Award in 2001.
Ultimately releasing three studio albums with Killing Heidi, Ella later branched out into an equally acclaimed solo career, seamlessly pivoting away from her heavier roots into synth folk, rock, country and Americana. Most recently, Ella released Small Town Temple in 2023, which showcased Ella’s love and proficiency for country and Americana and also debuted at #1 on the Australian Country chart. Splitting her time between Melbourne and Nashville, where the new album was recorded, Ella is set to wow Australian crowds by hitting the road for ‘The Overnight Success Tour’ this October.
“Playing live is my happy place and what I feel I do best,” shares Ella. “I’m definitely a seasoned road dog now, but when I have a brand new album to tour, create a detailed world with and really curate the evening to reflect that, that’s the best version of touring to me.”
“I can’t wait to hit up old venues and new ones with this music that I’m so incredibly excited to play,” Ella continues. “Every gig’s going to feel like an un-boxing! My kick arse live band have been with me for a while now and we’ve been itching to bring this album to life. We’re in a purple patch as a live outfit thanks to playing so much these last few years and we always make it a party.. which is kinda the theme of Overnight Success, tinsel curtains and mirror balls oddly make the perfect background for some deep and personal sharing, and of course for the party tracks and midtempo rockers that we love to pepper throughout to keep a set humming.” someone called my live aesthetic ‘Shambolic Fairy Prom’, and I’ll take it..”
Entering a brand-new chapter of her creative journey with the upcoming release of Overnight Success, Ella Hooper resoundingly cements her status as one of the most enduring and endearing artists of her era on album #4. And, as she explains, she has truly found her voice and her home in the Americana realm.
“I worked really hard on this record,” shares Ella, “took risks and fought for things, sent myself broke a few times – making it over multiple trips to Nashville, but also met some incredible talents along the way and I couldn’t be more confident and stoked with the end result. Worth every sleepless night and grey hair!”
“It definitely feels like a level up, in my writing especially,” Ella concludes. “I’m exploring my voice and my relationship to Americana, the sounds, the genre, it’s parameters. I’m not an easy act to pigeonhole; but God I feel like myself on this record.”
When The Shit Went Down is out today.
Overnight Success is due out October 2.
ELLA HOOPER – OVERNIGHT SUCCESS TOUR DATES:
Supported by Ruby Mae
THU 01 OCT – THE ELTHAM, ELTHAM NSW
FRI 02 OCT – BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE
SAT 03 OCT – BRUNSWICK BALLROOM, MELBOURNE VIC
SUN 04 OCT – TRINITY SESSIONS, ADELAIDE
THU 08 OCT – STAG & HUNTER, NEWCASTLE
FRI 09 OCT – PETERSHAM BOWLO, SYDNEY NSW
SAT 10 OCT – SMITHS ALTERNATIVE, CANBERRA ACT
Stream: WHEN THE SHIT WENT DOWN
