New music from Lindsay Ell is almost here. The Canadian just announced her 12-track sophomore album, heart theory, will be released on August 14. Lindsay co-wrote all but one of the songs, with hit songwriters like Florida Georgia Line‘s Tyler Hubbard, Brandy Clark, Corey Crowder, Kelly Archer and more.

“Songwriting is one of my deep loves,” Lindsay told Everything Nash and other outlets. “It’s why I moved to Nashville 10 years ago. The fact that I was really able to write my whole heart on this record is just a special moment. I wrote ‘Hits Me,’ the first song on the record with Tyler Hubbard, from FGL, who’s an incredible songwriter. I’ve known Tyler in the industry for so long, but he’s such a good writer. It was really cool to be able to write with him, and Corey Crowder and start this record.

“I have a couple of Brandy Clark songs on this album,” she continued. “Brandy has been a friend of mine for a long time. We’ve toured the world together. We played Australia and New Zealand and Japan together last year. She’s always just been such a close friend, and yet has helped me write some of the most important songs on this record. She’s just such a wordsmith with the way she can craft things.”

Lindsay also got to write with Kane Brown, on a track called “Want Me Back,” which Lindsay says will be her next single.

“Kane and I have also just been friends through the industry, but he is a great songwriter in his own, right,” Lindsay reflected. “We’ve always talked about writing something and collaborating, and we finally got our schedules to line up to do that.”

heart theory is a painfully honest look at all Lindsey has gone through in recent years, including her split with radio host Bobby Bones, with each of the songs part of the seven stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance — even though that wasn’t her intention in the beginning.

“I more was just writing songs in the progression of going through a breakup last year, turning 30, going through all of these transformative spots in my life,” Lindsay shared. “As a songwriter, you write about what you’re going through sometimes, or what you’re feeling a lot. I was just writing songs about every single part of my own process and my own journey. And eventually, about halfway through, I was like, you know what? I’m taking my fans through this journey. What if I really brought them in on this from beginning to end, in the order that I’ve written the record.

“I’ve felt all of the seven stages of grief,” she continued. “I am such a nerd about a lot of things, but specifically I love listening to podcasts on therapy and grief, Brené Brown, and all of these things. And I was like, ‘What if I wrote the record around the seven stages of grief, so that I could take a listener or a fan right from the beginning of shock to the end of acceptance, and take them through this up and down journey.’ Everybody’s path through grief is completely different and you can bounce back and forth and bounce all around. It’s never linear, but I just wanted to share my story with them, and share the process of how I got from here to here. It just sort of happened through writing it.”

While most people in the entertainment industry prefer to keep their personal lives private, Lindsay is more than willing to share her entire life with her fans.

“I always say, as somebody in the entertainment industry, if I’m putting my life on social media, then I’m putting my life on social media,” Lindsay said. “And so, if I’m letting somebody in and opening that door, then why not open it all the way and let somebody in completely, and bring them through every single part of my own process.”

heart theory is available for pre-order at Amazon.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of BBR Music Group / Jeremy Cowart