Kaitlin Butts Signs With Republic Records, Following Breakout Viral Success of ‘You Ain’t Gotta Die (to Be Dead to Me)’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Kaitlin Butts, the country singer who had a breakout viral hit this year with “You Ain’t Gotta Die (to Be Dead to Me),” has signed a deal with Republic Records, the label announced Thursday.
Butts and Republic are wasting no time coming out of the gate with a new release to consummate the agreement. They’ll issue a five-song EP titled “Yeehaw Sessions” on Nov. 14, which will feature her cover versions of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova,” the Don Williams country classic “Tulsa Time” and the Chicks’ “Sin Wagon” on top of a reprise of her signature song, “You Ain’t Gotta Die.” “The Middle” will come out as a single on DSPs Friday.
Butts tells Variety why she went with Republic. “After I had my viral moment with ‘You AIn’t Gotta Die,’ I had so many labels reaching out, and it was really the craziest moment for me, as someone who’s worked at this for a really long time, to have people sniffing around like that. I originally connected with (label executive) Mary Catherine Kinney, who recently started working over there and has always been a big cheerleader in my corner, just as a friend and someone who likes music. I feel very connected to Republic because I feel like their vision for me aligns with the dreams that I’ve always had for myself. And it just really feels good to work with a team that is so champing at the bit to get to work, and they seem to want to work just as hard as I have been for a long time, so I’m excited to get to work with them.”
Republic is obviously a dominant label in the business, but hasn’t always had a big presence in the country space — something that has been changing with the signing of artists like Miranda Lambert and Shania Twain and its alignment with Big Loud on Morgan Wallen. Butts is mindful of that expansion into the genre by Republic but also cites how working with a musically more broadly based company will meet her vision for a diverse audience.
“I think I want to align myself with just the world and not corner yourself into a just country music space, because that’s not where I feel like I exist” solely, Butts says. “I feel like I kind of exist in an Americana space, or I even make pop music sometimes with my remixes. I feel like country music’s for everybody, and I want to try to be able to reach out to people who might not even listen to country music, but they listen to me. So aligning myself with (Republic) was the best idea, and then to be on a label with people like Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift is just ideal.”
In a statement, Kinney, who serves as executive VP of artist & label strategy for Republic Records, said: “Kaitlin is a generational talent, a remarkable artist and songwriter with a clear voice and powerful point of view. She’s honest, magnetic and entirely her own. A force live, she’s built a phenomenal career through her unmatched drive and vision. I’ve had the privilege of watching her evolution as an artist and am thrilled to welcome her to the Republic family. We’re deeply honored to partner with her in this next chapter.”
Butts attracted plenty of new fans this year when she was the opening act on country superstar Lainey Wilson’s sold-out arena tour and was invited out by Wilson to sing a duet in the headlining set as well.
“Yeehaw Sessions,” the forthcoming EP, is a sequel of sorts to a previous EP Butts had put out independently in 2022, also of covers, called “Sad Yeehaw Sessions.” It directly follows up her most recent full-length LP, “Roadrunner!,” which came out in 2024 and spawned the “You Ain’t Gotta Die” single. (Read Variety‘s July interview with Butts about that album and her breakout hit here.)
Butts has been on social media talking about why she was prompted to cover the Jimmy Eat World classic rock song, and tells Variety more about her feelings around it, which were partially inspired by the negative as well as positive reactions she gets on social media.
“I was kind of struggling after even ‘Ain’t Gotta Die’ happened. I had all this attention come my way, lots of great attention — and I love attention, generally. But it came with a lot of negative comments and people just commenting on my body, face, personality, talent. And on my lower days, you start to kind of believe some of those negative comments; at your weaker moments, you start to wonder if they’re right about you,” Butts says.
“And one night I went out to karaoke, which is what I as a professional singer do when I’m sad — go to karaoke to make myself feel better. And a girl started singing ‘The Middle,’ and I’m very visual and I remember looking att the words on the screen and realizing that, although it’s a song that I’ve sung my whole life, it was the first time that I really took in the lyrics and knew what the song was about, and I really needed to hear them. And I just started crying at karaoke. I really needed to hear those words in that moment and recognize that all these opportunities are coming my way because of all the hard work, and am I gonna let these keyboard warriors dull this incredible moment that I’ve worked for forever?
“And the answer is no, I’m not going to,” Butts continues. “And I started playing it live, because it really just feels like a reminder for myself to just sing it out loud and speak those words that I need to just enjoy this ride. And as I played it live more and more, it felt so good to see other people resonate with it and hear those words. So I was like, I need to record this version because I wanted to slow it down a bit to where the lyrics really stood out, and get something that people could listen to in their car and just feel very cathartic with.”
Butts and Republic are wasting no time coming out of the gate with a new release to consummate the agreement. They’ll issue a five-song EP titled “Yeehaw Sessions” on Nov. 14, which will feature her cover versions of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova,” the Don Williams country classic “Tulsa Time” and the Chicks’ “Sin Wagon” on top of a reprise of her signature song, “You Ain’t Gotta Die.” “The Middle” will come out as a single on DSPs Friday.
Butts tells Variety why she went with Republic. “After I had my viral moment with ‘You AIn’t Gotta Die,’ I had so many labels reaching out, and it was really the craziest moment for me, as someone who’s worked at this for a really long time, to have people sniffing around like that. I originally connected with (label executive) Mary Catherine Kinney, who recently started working over there and has always been a big cheerleader in my corner, just as a friend and someone who likes music. I feel very connected to Republic because I feel like their vision for me aligns with the dreams that I’ve always had for myself. And it just really feels good to work with a team that is so champing at the bit to get to work, and they seem to want to work just as hard as I have been for a long time, so I’m excited to get to work with them.”
Republic is obviously a dominant label in the business, but hasn’t always had a big presence in the country space — something that has been changing with the signing of artists like Miranda Lambert and Shania Twain and its alignment with Big Loud on Morgan Wallen. Butts is mindful of that expansion into the genre by Republic but also cites how working with a musically more broadly based company will meet her vision for a diverse audience.
“I think I want to align myself with just the world and not corner yourself into a just country music space, because that’s not where I feel like I exist” solely, Butts says. “I feel like I kind of exist in an Americana space, or I even make pop music sometimes with my remixes. I feel like country music’s for everybody, and I want to try to be able to reach out to people who might not even listen to country music, but they listen to me. So aligning myself with (Republic) was the best idea, and then to be on a label with people like Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift is just ideal.”
In a statement, Kinney, who serves as executive VP of artist & label strategy for Republic Records, said: “Kaitlin is a generational talent, a remarkable artist and songwriter with a clear voice and powerful point of view. She’s honest, magnetic and entirely her own. A force live, she’s built a phenomenal career through her unmatched drive and vision. I’ve had the privilege of watching her evolution as an artist and am thrilled to welcome her to the Republic family. We’re deeply honored to partner with her in this next chapter.”
Butts attracted plenty of new fans this year when she was the opening act on country superstar Lainey Wilson’s sold-out arena tour and was invited out by Wilson to sing a duet in the headlining set as well.
“Yeehaw Sessions,” the forthcoming EP, is a sequel of sorts to a previous EP Butts had put out independently in 2022, also of covers, called “Sad Yeehaw Sessions.” It directly follows up her most recent full-length LP, “Roadrunner!,” which came out in 2024 and spawned the “You Ain’t Gotta Die” single. (Read Variety‘s July interview with Butts about that album and her breakout hit here.)
Butts has been on social media talking about why she was prompted to cover the Jimmy Eat World classic rock song, and tells Variety more about her feelings around it, which were partially inspired by the negative as well as positive reactions she gets on social media.
“I was kind of struggling after even ‘Ain’t Gotta Die’ happened. I had all this attention come my way, lots of great attention — and I love attention, generally. But it came with a lot of negative comments and people just commenting on my body, face, personality, talent. And on my lower days, you start to kind of believe some of those negative comments; at your weaker moments, you start to wonder if they’re right about you,” Butts says.
“And one night I went out to karaoke, which is what I as a professional singer do when I’m sad — go to karaoke to make myself feel better. And a girl started singing ‘The Middle,’ and I’m very visual and I remember looking att the words on the screen and realizing that, although it’s a song that I’ve sung my whole life, it was the first time that I really took in the lyrics and knew what the song was about, and I really needed to hear them. And I just started crying at karaoke. I really needed to hear those words in that moment and recognize that all these opportunities are coming my way because of all the hard work, and am I gonna let these keyboard warriors dull this incredible moment that I’ve worked for forever?
“And the answer is no, I’m not going to,” Butts continues. “And I started playing it live, because it really just feels like a reminder for myself to just sing it out loud and speak those words that I need to just enjoy this ride. And as I played it live more and more, it felt so good to see other people resonate with it and hear those words. So I was like, I need to record this version because I wanted to slow it down a bit to where the lyrics really stood out, and get something that people could listen to in their car and just feel very cathartic with.”