Newcomer Mickey Guyton hits radio with her debut single, “Better Than You Left Me,” on Monday, nearly three years after signing her record deal with Capitol Nashville. It hasn’t been roses and riches for the Texas native in those three years, since she’s been working on her album and working another job to pay the bills.

Mickey says people think once you sign a record deal, money isn’t a problem anymore. That isn’t the case. “I got my record deal, and it was my saving grace,” recalls Mickey. “It felt like I wouldn’t have to worry about money, and I was just going to focus on my album, and it’s just not the case. Your bills still have to be paid. You still have things happen where you have to fork out a whole bunch of money, where you’re like, ‘Well, there that goes!’ Once I moved to Nashville, got my record deal and was focusing on my music, and then I realized my money was running out…So, I drove my little self over to Nordstrom and got a job in the lingerie department. So, Monday through Thursday, I wrote, and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I worked.”

“I look back at some of my pictures and I had lost so much weight because I wasn’t even able to eat, because I was constantly on the go,” Mickey adds. “You do have to make a living for yourself. I know other artists who’ve had to do that or who got their car repo’d because they couldn’t pay their bills, because it’s really truly so hard. You never know when your money’s coming in, but it makes you a stronger person, and it makes being in this room talking about my life that much sweeter.”

Mickey just made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry (at the Ryman Auditorium), and she declared it, “Hands down, one of the best moments of my life.”