Kellie Pickler is Much Happier After Split with Label

Country star Kellie Pickler has just released her third album 100 Proof and took the exit from her label Sony Music Nashville soon after.  Though 100 Proof it is the most critically acclaimed album among her releases, it also has the worst sales with only 74,000 copies sold.  (Small Town Girl hit gold with 800,000 copies and her self-titled album sold more than 400,000)

Pickler explained that the process of making her third album was "hell".  She explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that it was not promoted by the label.

"When my album came out, I didn't even have a song out on the radio. Nobody does that. [The label was] spread thin. When I was making my record, the CEO left. He retired. They brought in Gary [Overton]. My A&R left. They brought in somebody else. I went through four heads of promotion when my record was coming out. The only consistency was inconsistency," Pickler said.

Pickler however did say that this album allowed her to express her true self with the help of Luke Wooten and Frank Lidell.  

"They helped me discover the artist in myself. Since American Idol, it's been like a blur. I've been pulled in a hundred different directions by a hundred different people. You know, signing contracts that I couldn't read, but I was 19 and green and it was, "Sign this contract or go back to working in fast food," and I didn't want to do that."

The country singer confessed about her love for traditional country music and the stars that she looks up to.  Traditional country was the music that Pickler wanted to do since the first time she walked into Sony.  With the support from Wooten and Lidell, she was able to create an album "that's real."

"They saw that in me, and that's real. That's me. When this album came out, the people that know me, my friends, went, "There's Kellie. There you are."

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