If anybody can sing about bad decisions and hard topics — and nail it perfectly — it’s singer/songwriter Mae Estes.
The Hope, AR standout shares her first offering in nearly two years, “What I Shoulda Done,” today (May 3), which is full of bad temptations and things she “shouldn’t have done.” The fast-paced, high-energy banger channels early 90s country, and was inspired by wanting to go out and having a good time.
“We pulled a lot from my first four years in Nashville when writing this song. I moved here from a sleepy small town in southwest Arkansas that’s still a dry county. I couldn’t believe the endless amount of honky tanks and opportunities to party when I get here and I dove right on it. If there was a good time to be had, I was going to find it,” Estes shared in a press release.
“It’s one of my favorites to perform live too. It’s got that 80s and 90s Country vibe and bringing in Joe Spivey to play fiddle on it makes my heart so happy. He played on so many of my heroes’ records like ‘Seminole Wind’ and some of Shania Twain’s early stuff. That electric guitar solo is also probably my favorite solo I’ve got to record so far, James Mitchell absolutely killed it.”
View this post on Instagram
“What I Shoulda Done” follows previously released singles “Die In A Bar,” “Town Left Me and ” “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Cheatin’;” a song honest about cheating from a female perspective. Mae spoke with Secrets Country writer Brianna Vacca during CRS 2024 back in February about the makings of the song and how that uncomfortable conversation came to be.
“I had just gotten married in 2020 and was having an honest conversation with my new perfect husband. And I was telling him, ‘hey listen man, I don’t think I’m ever gonna cheat on you. I’m so blunt that I would just let you know that I’ve been thinking about cheating on you.’ So I took that into a zoom,” the country singer reveals.
“We were still in the COVID era and writing over Zoom with my co-writers Autumn McEntire and Alex Klein. I brought the idea in like, ‘what would that conversation sound like?’ We just dove in and were really honest about those feelings and imagined if partners respected each other enough to bring that to each other instead of just cheating. Then how would that go? So we got to use our wildest imaginations and put it to a country melody and a good two step. That’s how we got it,” she continues.
Estes got her start at just seven years old, performing the national anthem at a rodeo (inspired by LeAnn Rimes’ performance) and subsequently every rodeo and sporting event she competed in after that. In 2015, she moved to Nashville to chase her Country music dream, taking temp jobs, waitressing and even managing a Victoria’s Secret as she continued to hone her craft, which led to her first publishing deal in 2020 and eventually her first record deal with Big Machine Records in 2024.
n addition to working hard on new music, she is out on the road with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Gary Allan and Dierks Bentley. Mae also has a few performances in Nashville coming up at BMI’s Rooftop on the Row (alongside her recent Head Full Of Noise tourmate, Jackson Dean) on May 14, at the Grand Ole Opry on May 16 and at CMA Fest in June.
Take a listen to “What I Shoulda Done” below and let us know if you’re loving the track by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram @celebsecrets.
For more Country news, visit CelebSecretsCountry.com.
