Ashley Cooke Shares How One 'Painful' Breakup Led to a 'Perfect' Song with Colbie Caillat (Exclusive)

"It turned into a real song that was about a real event. It was cool," the country singer, who just released her debut album 'Shot in the Dark,' tells PEOPLE

On the heels of releasing her debut album Shot in the Dark, Ashley Cooke has a whole host of new, meaningful songs — but maybe none more so than “Mean Girl,” which features Grammy-winning vocalist (and Cooke’s childhood idol) Colbie Callait.

The song, however, isn’t what one might expect based on the title — Cooke, 26, is actually coming from a place of compassion while trying to help a fellow girl out.

“This ain’t me being mean, girl,” Cooke sings in the chorus, before delivering a warning to an ex’s new flame.

Cooke finishes the verse with another creative play on words: “When he says you're the only one, take it from me / Yeah, it's just another thing that he doesn't mean, girl.”

The inspiration, says Cooke, comes from a past relationship.

“My ex-boyfriend, he was never very great to me, for better for worse,” she says. “And when my producer told me that my ex had a new girlfriend, I was like, ‘I wish I could just tell her what I wish I would've listened to when other ex-girlfriends reached out to me. I wish that I could just tell her — to help save somebody else from the hurt.’”

Related: Ashley Cooke on Debut Album After 'Crazy' Year: 'You Feel Like Yourself, but in Fancier Clothes' (Exclusive)

Just like that, “Mean Girl” was born as a sort of pseudo letter to an ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend.

“I think it was the perfect explanation of a Nashville story. It turned into a real song that was about a real event. It was cool,” says Cooke, reflecting now.

What was even cooler for Cooke was getting to sing the tune with Caillat — who plays the part of the “new girl” in the song’s second verse.

“Colbie was everything when I was a kid. I was in love with her voice. Her music was amazing, but it was more her voice and vibe that I fell in love with,” says Cooke.

“Growing up, a lot of people told me that I sounded similar, that I reminded them in some ways of Colbie, which was always a huge compliment. So [when] we were talking about features and collaborations on the album, I was like, ‘Colbie, that'd be huge,’” Cooke adds of asking the “Bubbly” singer to be featured on a song in the first place.

Related: Ashley Cooke Thought the Pandemic Would Hurt Her Country Music Career — but It Ended Up Igniting It

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These days, though, Cooke has happily moved on with someone new, too — but she's really focused on continuing to grow as both an artist and a person.

“I put up with so much stuff in past relationships that I would nowadays be like, ‘What?’” Cooke says. “But I think you go through it to understand your worth and your value… Right now, I'm in a place in my career where I'm really trying to build musically.”

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