[Via Billboard]

Elizabeth Nichols could have been an author, an accountant or a lawyer.

Instead, she chose artist. And now she has a breakthrough song with the quirky kiss-off “I Got a New One.” The attitude-driven song about kicking toxic, possessive lovers to the curb got a boost recently when Kelly Clarkson gave it the “Kellyoke treatment” on an episode of her popular talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Nichols independently released “I Got a New One” in December. Soon after, The Kelly Clarkson Show’s team reached out, asking for permission to use the song. “I signed everything, did the legal stuff and then I didn’t hear anything,” Nichols recalls to Billboard. “I thought maybe it was going to play in the credits or something. But then I woke up and Kelly was singing it on TV. I freaked out, alone in my house. I ordered Dickey’s Barbeque to celebrate — nothing like barbeque to celebrate.”

After her rendition, Clarkson expressed her happiness at being able to shout out a “fellow Texan” and heaped praise on Nichols’ song (“I love it so much. It’s so funny”). “I heard what she said on TV and it was so kind. It was a very huge honor,” Nichols adds.

Nichols is No. 15 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, and has already opened shows for Wyatt Flores. Her seven-song debut EP Tough Love comes out on June 20 on PULSE Records. “I’m just counting down the days until [Tough Love] releases,” she says. “It comes out the day before my birthday, and I’m celebrating with a crawfish boil. That was my one request.”