ELLA HOOPER SHARES ROUSING NEW SINGLE ‘GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO’ AND ANNOUNCES 2026 AUSSIE TOUR FOR JAN

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A rousing ode to self-reflection with heartland flavours and lashings of charm, revered Australian singer-songwriter Ella Hooper today unveils a new single Growing Up Is Hard To Do, emerging with a Springsteen-ready romp that effortlessly straddles relatability and unbridled warmth. An upbeat snapshot of Ella’s continued creative evolution, Growing Up Is Hard To Do will also take full flight in 2026 throughout Ella’s Summer Tour ’26 performances, kicking off on Saturday 10 January in Mansfield, before heading through Tamworth, Sale, Archies Creek, Newcastle, Mangrove Mountain, Bathurst, Boyup Brook, Ocean Grove and Balnarring Beach.

Tickets for Ella Hooper’s upcoming Summer Tour ’26 performances are on sale now from ellahooper.com.

A bona fide toe-tapper, weaving bright instrumentals, raw yet animated vocals, driving beats, a sax solo tipping its cap to Clarence Clemmons, and a tom tom breakdown worthy of the Boss, this Bruce Springsteen-hued gem also affably dovetails the scars, laughs and learnings of growing up into an outing that captures Ella’s effusive live energy, and also instantly emerges as a future festival fan-favourite. “I’m so excited to be sharing this new song!” shares Ella. “It literally made me smile when it came to my minds ear and also came quickly to life in my Nashville recording sessions…it always had a clear idea of what it wanted to be – or rather what I wanted to say, on this one. I love the chance to blend some of Nashville’s finest players, with my local Melbourne friends like Mika [Kohlman] and see the musical sparks fly! Feels like having the best of both the worlds that I love so much and spend so much time in.”

“This song comes from a period of self-reflection that kinda started with Small Town Temple – my last album,” Ella continues. “It finds me in a place where I can almost accept that growing pains never stop…I’m just learning to write different songs about them. It feels playful to me, as life is a little lighter now, internally anyway,” Ella adds. “Some days I can roll my eyes at the chaos of the last few years, or my whole life actually…it’s certainly been a hell of a ride. And as they say, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry!”

Produced by Ella along with the Australian-born, Nashville-based Sam Hawskley and ARIA-nominated creative Jeremy Dylan, Growing Up Is Hard To Do also showcases a horde of additional talent, featuring the Nashville studio band of Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow), Tom ‘Uncle Larry’ Bukovacand Rachel Loy (Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton), an unforgettable sax solo from Melbourne’s finest indie sax man, Mika Kohlman (Watty Thompson, Fenn Wilson & The Weather), and additional magic courtesy of co-producers LOLLIES, aka Clare Reynolds (Jordie Lane, Rachel Baiman and Mic Hubbard (The Bluebottles, Ben Mastwyk).

A longtime staple in the musical realms, Ella Hooper’s storied career has spanned everything from a #1 album, through to sold out tours (playing Good Things last year, and this year’s fully sold out Reflector 25^th anniversary tour, and the 25^th anniversary re-release which also saw the album get back into the top spot of the Aus album and vinyl ARIA charts), multiple award wins, Rolling Stone covers, radio and TV presenting, and hit singles along the way that changed the course of Australian pop culture forever. Emerging in the mid 90s fronting Killing Heidi, Ella and co. catapulted out of regional Victoria into superstardom via their debut single Weir. Taking home four ARIA Awards for their 2000 debut album Reflector, Ella also went on to become the first ever female, and also youngest person, to receive APRA’s Songwriter of the Year Award in 2001, with Killing Heidi ultimately releasing three studio albums during their tenure.

Branching out into a solo career, Ella has continued to dominate and dazzle with her dexterous musical flair, pivoting to synth folk, rock, country and Americana, with her most recent solo outing, 2023’s Small Town Temple, firmly celebrating her love of country and Americana, while also weaving deeply personal narratives into the 11-track record that also went on to debut at #1 on the Australian Country chart. Firmly in her country era and splitting her time between Nashville and Melbourne, Ella’s ongoing sonic magic continues to transfix both on airwaves and in a live setting, ticking off her Back From Nash headline tour earlier this year, and also delighting fans with Killing Heidi’s show-stopping performances at Good Things Festival in late 2024 alongside Korn, Electric Callboy, Violent Femmes and more.

Concluding 2025 with the release of Growing Up Is Hard To Do, Ella will kick off 2026 with a bang, with a bunch of festivals around the country that beget the high octane vibe that Ella’s new music is infused with, with everything from iconic taste making festivals (Queenscliff), to outback musters (Boyup Brook), to Music In The Vines in Mansfield, Americana on the Bellarine, the iconic Tamworth Country Music Festival, and a bunch of other headline outings that will yet again affirm her stalwart reputation for positivity, warmth and endless exuberance, both on and off the stage.

“Closing the year with a new single feels very me and very cheeky,” Ella laughs. “I know it’s going to go off live at the summer tour shows and festivals like Queenscliff too. The band are hanging to get their teeth into the single live, and I am just charging at the bit for 2026 and to tell more of the story and reflection that Growing Up hints at.”

Growing Up Is Hard To Do is out today.

Tickets for Ella Hooper’s upcoming Summer Tour ’26 performances are on sale now from ellahooper.com.

Stream: GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO

Watch: GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO

ELLA HOOPER UPCOMING 2026 SHOWS:
Tickets available from ellahooper.com

SAT 10 JAN | MUSIC IN THE VINES, DELATITE WINERY, MANSFIELD VIC

WED 21 JAN | TAMWORTH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL, TAMWORTH HOTEL NSW

SAT 31 JAN | LIVE AT THE BUNDY, SALE VIC

SUN 1 FEB | ARCHIES CREEK HOTEL, ARCHIES CREEK VIC

FRI 6 FEB |STAG & HUNTER, NEWCASTLE NSW

SAT 7 FEB | BLUES ON THE MOUNTAIN, MANGROVE MOUNTAIN NSW

SUN 8 FEB | THE VICTORIA HOTEL, BATHURST NSW