- Jake Worthington and Miranda Lambert’s new collaboration, “Hello S—ty Day,” is out now
- Worthington tells PEOPLE about how he found “the gumption to ask” Lambert to feature on the track, which they wrote together
- “I was really proud to hear that he wanted to cut this song for his project,” says Lambert
Jake Worthington knows its important to give iconic artists their flowers while they’re still around — which is why the 28-year-old Texas native considers it a “gift” to collaborate with one of his “musical heroes” and a fellow Texan, Miranda Lambert.
“Hello S—ty Day,” their newly-released joint track, sees Worthington and Lambert harmonizing lamentations on the good and bad we all face in day-to-day life, welcoming both triumphs and tribulations in the process.
As for the overall meaning of the song, Worthington tells PEOPLE about its aptly-chosen title, “I know I’ve had ’em. I had definitely had [those] mornings… mornings and evenings that felt exactly how I believe that the song portrays, and I think a lot of folks have.”
courtesy of Jake Worthington
“People are going to have s—ty days. And I think that we see the connection between the listener and the artist based off of what their songs are, how much you can relate,” he highlights.
Worthington recalls Lambert hilariously telling him, “It was kind of a s—ty day outside,” at the songwriting session where they crafted the song’s lyrics with Dean Dillon, Jessie Jo Dillon and Jesse Frasure. “And Miranda had told me that ol’ Dean was just sitting there smoking on a cigarette and walked out there on the patio and kind of came back in and just said, ‘Hello, s—ty day.’ And Miranda was like, ‘That is what we are writing today, by God.'”
After the inventive session, Lambert contacted Worthington directly to get him to lay down some of his signature vocals. “She sent it to me in the text message, and, of course, I loved it from the get go,” he recalls, “and I just asked if that was something that I could cut, and she said, ‘Yes, hell yes.'”
However, it wasn’t until Worthington “got the gumption to ask her to sing on it with me” that the current iteration of “Hello S—ty Day” came to be. Lambert’s response? “Hell yes,” he recalled.
Fast-forward to the two laying down the track in the studio. For Worthington, seeing Lambert work in person “makes you want to jump up and yell. It’s just so good.”
Brayln Kelly Smith
“I think for me, it was really eye-opening and leveling to witness her be able to come in and just effortlessly lay the law down,” he adds. “She just walked in, sang that son of a gun, man… it couldn’t have been done better.”
Reflecting landing such a major country music collaboration, Worthington shares, “I don’t know why gifts like that happened, but I sure feel like that song coming my way was a gift. I can’t think of many different or similar opportunities I’ve ever had to, for stars to align… to have an opportunity to sing a song that I not only believe in, but with a musical hero like Miranda.”
Further highlighting Lambert’s victories in the genre, he notes that “it would be extremely hard and ignorant to ignore the body of work that she has given the world.”
“I feel like there’s two kinds of writers in this world and two kinds of singers. I really believe that there’s head writers and heart writers, and head singers and heart singers. To me, she leads with the heart and soul. And I think that that’s important in music,” Worthington deems, adding “I don’t think there are any boxes on [her] passion.”
As for her take on working on the track, Lambert shared in a statement to PEOPLE, “Jake was the first person I thought of to sing it.”
“We’re both Texans who grew up on the same traditional country music, and I love watching his star rise. I was really proud to hear that he wanted to cut this song for his project, and I was thrilled to sing on it with him,” she continued.
“Hello S—ty Day” is available on all streaming platforms now.
