Katie Pruitt<\/a> is one of those rare artists who bravely navigates the world through the songs she writes. Her first two albums were defined by her frank and candid reckoning with her sexuality and Catholic upbringing. Now, on her third, she\u2019s letting listeners in on her broken heart. \u201cAll of us, including myself, are just trying to find reasons to keep going and keep hope alive,\u201d she says. \u201cWriting these songs was really cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tOn Friday, the 32-year-old Georgia native released Fools for the Fleeting<\/em> on Rounder Records, her first studio LP since Mantras<\/em> in 2024. The 10-track project, which features guest appearances from Nolan Taylor and Sierra Hull, took root as Pruitt processed a modern-day upheaval of American society. When she went through a breakup after a seven-year relationship, it became something more personal.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s about living in the aftermath of both a cultural and personal change,\u201d Pruitt, seated at a coffeeshop in East Nashville, tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of on the heels of the end of a pretty significant relationship in my 20s, but it\u2019s also post-Covid, post-Trump administration, post-AI boom, and social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tShe combines a lot of that in the track \u201cThe Aftermath.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s at the front of the record for a reason,\u201d Pruitt says of the song, which starts out as a breakup anthem before taking aim at the political and social climate in the U.S. during the second term of President Trump. \u201cEnd of the world isn\u2019t this entertaining\/never a day when the news isn\u2019t breaking,\u201d she sings, before dropping a lyrical A-bomb: \u201cHanded the wrong man the keys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt serves to lay out the context for the rest of the record, as the world imposes itself on Pruitt\u2019s personal turmoil, a subject she returns to time and again. Explicit breakup compositions like \u201cMatching Tattoos\u201d (\u201cAll we\u2019ve got in common is our matching tattoos\u201d) and \u201cFools for the Fleeting\u201d (\u201cMoments are sweetly misleading, and we are just fools for the fleeting\u201d) lay bare the headspace Pruitt was in as she wrote or co-wrote every song on the album. Taylor\u2019s vocals on \u201cBlackout\u201d and Hull\u2019s mandolin on \u201cOrion\u2019s Belt\u201d augment a record that centers Pruitt\u2019s voice over string-and-percussion melodies and bend the whole production toward emo. \u201cShit is hard right now. This is supposed to sound a little angsty,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tPruitt doesn\u2019t shy away from the root cause of that angst, either. \u201cLittle Boxes\u201d is a lament over the doomscrolling, screen-dominated culture that has taken hold of society. It finds Pruitt concluding that in-person, face-to-face interaction among people can overcome the distance that comes along with a digital lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n