Boundary-pushing, Tulsa-born singer/songwriter Kaitlin Butts is following the announcement of her upcoming fourth studio album, Hello, Honky Tonk, arriving October 30 via Republic Records, with the release of “I Wanna Be Bad,” available everywhere today. Named one of Rolling Stone’s most anticipated albums for 2026, the LP is a love letter to the honky tonks and nightlife that have shaped Butts while becoming a huge part of her life on the road. Listen to “I Wanna Be Bad” HERE and pre-save Hello, Honky Tonk HERE.
Written by Butts with Natalie Hemby, the song follows her critically acclaimed “Never Really Mine,” giving fans another glimpse into the world of Hello, Honky Tonk. With a playful invitation to cut loose, “I Wanna Be Bad” captures the uninhibited spirit at the heart of Butts’ forthcoming album. With a rowdy, rallying cry, she declares:
Oh and sometimes...I wanna go crazy
Oh and sometimes I wanna go maniac mad
I wanna smoke and drink and party
and dance all on the floor
Maybe kiss a cowboy
Maybe even more
Sometimes I wanna be bad
The zany and jubilant official music video for “I Wanna Be Bad” was also released today. Directed by Butts and frequent collaborator Chris Beyrooty and shot at Nashville’s Cross-Eyed Critters karaoke bar, the video finds her whirling through a madcap honky tonk fantasy filled with everything you might want for a memorable night out…Texas-sized beers, line dancing, drag queens and even some animatronic animals. The video sets the tone for an album inspired by the vaudeville vignettes of movie musical Chicago with a dash of Disney World’s beloved Country Bear Musical Jamboree. Watch the video Below.
Recorded in Nashville with producer Tofer Brown (Carter Faith, Willow Avalon, Little Big Town), Hello, Honky Tonk promises to bring about a night of laughter and tears at your favorite honky tonk, complete with a cast of characters listeners might recognize from the dance floor, behind the bar or from the corner booth. Filled with her sharp wit, theatrical sensibility and genre-bending musicality, it promises to be a vivid snapshot of a bar like no other.
“The thought behind the concept was how in Chicago, the character Roxie Hart is dreaming up what her show would look like and all the people in it,” says Butts, who began performing in musical theatre herself as a child and loved the idea of vaudeville-style vignettes. Another light bulb flickered on during a recent trip to see the original Jamboree before it was updated. The vintage sensibility of the Nashville-inspired stage show, a favorite of hers as a kid, felt like home. “When Teddi Barra came down from the ceiling on her swing, my mom and I just looked at each other and I was like, ‘That is me,’" she says of the cowboy-hatted, feather-boa sporting brown bear who inspired the album’s cover."
She continues, “I picture all of this happening at Skinny Dennis here in Nashville,” she says of a popular honky tonk in town. “These are all the different people in the room. There's the bar fight that's happening. There's the bad girl that just got off work. There's me being the entertainer. There are so many people that really love the night life. It’s a connector for people."
“I Wanna Be Bad” follows Butts’ recent release “Never Really Mine,” a sharp-witted, self-assured take on jealousy and romantic freedom written by Butts alongside Maggie Antone and Lola Kirke, which Saving Country Music called “a pure, traditional country song.”
“I Wanna Be Bad” continues the introduction into the world of Hello, Honky Tonk, offering fans another glimpse at the characters, attitude and theatrical energy that have come to define Butts’ sound following her critically acclaimed album Roadrunner! in 2024, a bold reimagining inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! that landed on numerous year-end best-of lists.
The new project continues a whirlwind year for Butts, who has expanded her creative footprint both onstage and behind the camera. Earlier this spring, Butts joined Willow Avalon on her song “Hypothetically Speaking” and its official video, starred in Ella Langley’s music video for the award-winning hit “Choosin’ Texas,” co-directed and wrote the treatment for Flatland Cavalry’s “Unglued” and joined The Band Perry on the recent reimagining of their hit “You Lie (Forever Version).”
The album marks her first full-length project since signing with Republic Records in October 2025 and releasing The Yeehaw Sessions, a fan-favorite EP featuring her genre-bending takes on songs including Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova,” Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” The Chicks’ “Sin Wagon” and Don Williams’ “Tulsa Time,” alongside her viral anthem “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me),” which has amassed more than 157 million TikTok views and 67 million global streams.
Butts continues to earn widespread critical acclaim for her fearless approach to country music and storytelling. Joining Lainey Wilson on her Whirlwind Tour, Ella Langley on The Dandelion Tour, headlining her own sold-out overseas tour with the European Cowgirl Experience, alongside features in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s American Currents exhibition for the second consecutive year, a 2026 MusicRow Award Nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and membership in both the 2025 Opry NextStage class and the CMT Next Women of Country class.
Hello, Honky Tonk arrives October 30 via Republic Records. “I Wanna Be Bad” is available everywhere now.
For the latest news, music and tour dates, visit kaitlinbutts.com and follow @kaitlinbutts on Instagram and Facebook and @kaitlinbuttsmusic on TikTok.
