80's Ladies is the debut studio album by American country music artist K. T. Oslin, released on June 30, 1987, by RCA Records Nashville.

The album, her first, propelled her to success in mainstream country, after an earlier first failed attempt with Elektra Records consisting of two singles released in 1982.

Its self-titled single was praised by fans and critics, eventually winning Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 1987 Grammy Awards.

[4] Diana Petty, a Nashville executive for SESAC, advised Oslin to sign a major label contract.

[9] Oslin fell into a depressive state due to her lack of commercial success and later said that she had suffered "several '4 a.m. anxiety attacks'".

By the beginning of 1986, she had borrowed $7,000 from her aunt, lost 40 pounds, and temporarily acquired a Nashville nightclub, inviting music executives to a one-time live showcase, expecting phone calls from them afterwards.

[7] Through her musical connections, Oslin contacted Nashville producer Harold Shedd, who had recently been successful working with Alabama.

Recording sessions for 80's Ladies took place at The Music Mill from early to late 1986 in Nashville, Tennessee, where the rhythm tracks and vocal overdubs were done.

Additional keyboards were contributed by David Briggs, known for his extensive work with Nashville musicians, and Gary Prim.

The album was engineered by Jim Cotton and Joe Scaife, with assistance from George W. Clinton and Paul Goldberg.

[15] According to Oslin, it took her approximately a year to write the lyrical arrangements, starting it off as a "little [show] piece"; she did not initially envision it as a single, let alone a hit song.

[16] In promotional copy for Oslin's 2002 RCA Country Legends compilation, Rich Kienzle wrote that the song "captured the feelings of middle-aged women everywhere".

[20][18] Jerry Sharpe from The Pittsburgh Press said that the song "reverses the role about middle-aged men trying to regain youth through a fling with young women".

[40] With "80's Ladies", Oslin became first woman to win "Song of the Year" at the Country Music Association Awards (CMAs).

[44] "Do Ya" was released on September 11, 1987,[1] and peaked at the top spot on the Billboard Country Singles chart[28] and was number three in Canada.

[43] In September 1987, Oslin began assembling a tour, supported by her backing band, to promote her album across the southern and eastern sections of the United States.

In a promotional record label review publication, Ralph Novak from People said the album was "as wryly funny, tuneful and all-around enjoyable as country music gets".

[55] A review from The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Oslin's music "addresses marriage, divorce, motherhood and middle-age dating in a way" that had not been seen in the country genre "in a long time", and compared the record's title track to Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee", calling it a "rabble-rouser".

[53] MusicRow's magazine staff called 80's Ladies "the best sign of country music's renewed health ... new artists who come from nowhere and quickly redefine the field to fit their vision".

They praised Oslin's songwriting as "proving how just flexible a rigid form can become in an intelligent writer's hands",[52] while Billboard's Gerry Wood described the songs as having "sass and sagacity".

[57] AllMusic's Rodney Batdorf felt that the songwriting "remained the same" but was "given a new viewpoint"; he said that 80's Ladies contained "a few weak tracks", but concluded his review by declaring it "an exciting, fresh change".

[12] Joe Sasfy, writing for The Washington Post, described Oslin as "a can't-miss country star", saying that her work was "proof that Nashville's future doesn't depend on fiddles and steel guitars so much as on singer-songwriters who can make you feel they're singing your life".

[58] John Wooley from Tulsa World declared it "the voice of experience", saying that Oslin's songs "are good ones – tough and poetic, full of heartbreak, tenderness and intelligence".

[59] Nashville-based music journalist Robert K. Oermann, writing for Gannett newspapers, described the singer's debut as introducing "a major new recording personality", while praising the title track as "a warm, earthy, good-humored anthem that is 'real' as anything Patsy Cline or Dolly Parton ever sang".