Crystal Yates, ‘Goodbye Letter’ Video — Exclusive Premiere

Crystal Yates is giving readers of The Boot an exclusive first look at the video for 'Goodbye Letter,' the lead track from her new EP.

Yates is the 2014 winner of the Texaco Country Showdown, whose previous winners include LeAnn Rimes, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert. Her new EP, 'I Believe,' was produced by Grammy winner Charlie Peacock, who also produced the Civil Wars and Holly Williams.

'Goodbye Letter' is an emotional track about the consequences of infidelity.

"I had recently been helping a friend who was going through a divorce, and I wanted to write something that would inspire her to acknowledge the pain, but be hopeful and be encouraged to move on to better things," Yates explains. "Being loved, and then lied to and cheated on is the nucleus of any good country song, so the idea of the ex moving on and doing whatever he wants, but it wasn't going to be with her, just evolved into the idea of 'Goodbye Letter.' Two of my dear friends and incredible writers, Jack Doyle and Jennie Lee Riddle, helped craft it into what the final version is now."

Yates met the star of the video years ago in a roundabout way.

"Our friend in the video, Kait, we had just met at another friend's house almost 2 1/2 years ago," she relates. "We had just written 'Goodbye Letter' and wanted to share it with everyone. All of the folks at the house seemed to like it, but Kait seemed a little quieter and withdrawn. Later on as we were leaving, she came out to us on the driveway and asked that if we ever did a video for that song, she'd love to be involved, since she had been through a similar situation."

It turned out that Kait was a professional model, but 'Goodbye Letter' is her first live action work. "But she was so natural and effortless, and nailed everything in the first or second take," Yates notes, adding, "Everyone involved was super impressed at how good she was!"

Yates already had the basic idea for the video, wanting to portray a revenge fantasy of the scorned woman throwing her cheating ex's stuff away, smashing and burning his possessions. Director Jon Collins brought those ideas into focus.

"His enthusiasm and ideas were incredible," the singer raves. "It was really Jon who tailored my scattered ideas into the final form, and he came up with so many little details that made the whole thing magical . . . Jon and his crew brought such an incredible level of professionalism and creativity, but most importantly, there was zero ego and such a collaborative spirit every single day of the shoot.

"Even though the days were long (for every minute of video there was about a 12-14 hour day), the whole crew was tireless and energetic, and everyone helped out everyone whenever they could," she adds. "I got food for everyone when I wasn't on camera, my husband helped clean leaves out of the pool and vacuumed up feathers, and there wasn't any sense of frustration or any attitude of being sick and tired from anyone; it was genuinely a wonderful experience!"

The resulting clip is something that Yates hopes has real value for her audience.

"I really think that more people than we realize can identify with the subject matter of this song," she states, "and it's my hope that everyone who's been through this type of situation can find some comfort and a hopefulness of looking to the future in their moving on."

'I Believe' is available for download at iTunes.

For more information about Crystal Yates, visit her official website, or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.