When The Sh!# Went Down

About the Artist

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 Sh!# 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 Sh!# 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 Sh!# Went Down to life, Ella also unlocked a sought-after creative aesthetic in the process. “Recording When The Sh!# 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.”