Gatlin isn’t afraid of saying the quiet part out loud. This week, the Nashville-based songwriter released two new tracks, “Happy” and “Pipe Dream,” pulling the curtain back on depression, doubt, and the never-ending comparison game that comes with being an artist in 2025. Both songs are set to appear on her debut album The Eldest Daughter, due out October 3 via Dualtone Records.
The pair of singles adds another layer to an already intimate record. Gatlin has long woven her personal history into her music—most recently with “Jesus Christ & Country Clubs,” a biting reflection on growing up queer in a conservative religious environment, and “If She Was a Boy,” a diary-born entry into her coming out journey that Rolling Stone called a “Song You Need to Know.” With “Happy” and “Pipe Dream,” she turns the focus inward, examining the weight of mental health struggles within the very industry she’s carving out space in.
“I started writing this song with my friend Carrie K a couple years ago about my depression,” Gatlin says of “Happy.” “It started when I was talking about how I would sometimes daydream about ending up in the hospital so then this guy I liked would come visit me and realize he was desperately in love with me—and also would remember to text me back. Peak of delusion!!!”
“Pipe Dream,” which Gatlin wrote, produced, and performed entirely on her own, hits just as personally. After the runaway success of her 2020 single “What If I Love You”—now sitting at over 85 million streams—she found herself measuring every new piece of work against it.
“Nothing was even coming close to touching it and my value and worth as a creative was very tied up in that,” she explains. “It’s a song where I’m just looking at my life and realizing I’ve put all my eggs in this music basket… and what happens if all of this doesn’t work out.”
These candid reflections are more than just catharsis. They feel like a blueprint for an artist who is ready to take ownership of her own narrative, even if it gets messy.
Album and tour
The Eldest Daughter arrives October 3 and promises a ten-track arc that spans family dynamics (“Man of the House”), societal critique (“Jesus Christ & Country Clubs”), and unflinching self-reflection (“Happy,” “Pipe Dream”). Gatlin will preview the record in full at a September 17 album release party in Los Angeles before bringing the project on tour. Stops include a hometown return to Orlando (September 29), release-week shows in Washington, D.C. (October 2), Brooklyn (October 6), and Boston (October 7).
The Eldest Daughter Tracklist
- Florida Man
- If She Was A Boy
- Man of the House
- Soho House Valet
- LOVE ME
- Pipe Dream
- Jesus Christ & Country Clubs
- Happy
- The Hill
- Kissimmee
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