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Singer-songwriter Whoa Dakota released her 2018 album, Patterns<\/em><\/a>, to much-deserved<\/a> critical acclaim<\/a>. The record, a woven fabric of spoken word and impressive indie songwriting, left an indelible mark, and people were paying attention. However, things weren\u2019t so kosher behind the scenes. Relationships with her creative team and producers unraveled, and she soon parted ways. \u201cThe falling out left some emotional scar tissue for me,\u201d says Jessica Ott, the mastermind behind the project.<\/p>\n The Nashville musician scoops up that pain into her new song and music video \u201cWalk Right By,\u201d premiering today, and it\u2019s very clear she\u2019s regained some of her swagger. Set inside Smack Clothing, a trendy hot-spot in Midtown, Ott browses through the racks and even becomes part of the display herself. \u201cI caught you looking at me\/And it felt nice,\u201d she sings. \u201cRed velvet blur, and my faux fur down to my thighs\/You never make it easy\/To change my mind\/Yeah, I can tell by the way you stare\/You\u2019ve got a lot to hide.”<\/p>\n Ott dresses her lyrics with ripe imagery and metaphor, but her message still cuts deep. The album\u2019s producers were unfortunately also close friends, and when the split happened, the pain shocked her system. \u201cThey weren\u2019t bigwigs by any means,\u201d she tells Audiofemme, \u201cbut it occurred to me how quickly people can turn on you when the idea they had about your relationship and who you represented for them feels threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n She began to ponder the commodification of her art – and of herself.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the music, too, but really, I<\/em> get turned into a product,” she says. “The thing that\u2019s tough about that is that in order to be a good human you have to be willing to change, grow, evolve, and be fallible. But it seems like in order to be a good product, the industry wants you unchanging, predictable, and to easily fall in line with whatever trends are currently returning the highest profits.\u201d<\/p>\n In the two years since Patterns<\/em>, Ott took plenty of time reassessing her life and what she wanted her music to be. She was unchained by a toxic past, so possibilities were endless. \u201cI spent a lot of time sort of redefining how I approached music on my own without their input and gained a lot of empowerment around my abilities as a writer, composer, and producer in my own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She toured extensively to promote the record, too, which allowed her to hit thrilling creative strides in her career. The chance to perform in front of audiences was unmistakably vital to her craft and the ability to figure out “how those songs felt on stage and how we could apply them to a live setting in a way that felt both engaging and authentic,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWalk Right By\u201d (co-written with Nathaniel Banks of indie band Arlie, BESHOOTiN, and producer Timothy Ryssemus) is markedly different in style from her previous work. She leans hard into disco-pop and R&B, her vocals like a chameleon changing its colors. \u201cAnd in my mind, you\u2019re all I need\/To get me higher, to get me higher,\u201d she coos over a delicious sparkle. \u201cBut every time you worry me\/I’ll walk right by ya \/ I’ll walk right by ya.\u201d<\/p>\n The song began with its pulsating bass line, courtesy of Ryssemus, who had it on loop. On that particular day, Ott sauntered into the studio wearing \u201cthis great vintage fur coat with some red cowboy boots, so that sort of set the tone for the imagery,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat bass line and the imagery combined sort of created this \u201870s \u2018don\u2019t fuck with me\u2019 kind of vibe, and we went with it. Then, BESHOOTiN added the screams that you hear in the background throughout the chorus, and it gave me major ‘Maggot Brain<\/a>‘ vibes. And I just get so tickled every time I hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n