A retrospective feature explores how Stevie Nicks rebuilt her songwriting career after entering rehab, crediting Tom Petty with helping her regain confidence as an artist. The piece traces her path from Fleetwood Mac, where she felt creatively constrained by Lindsey Buckingham, through a successful solo career aided by producer Jimmy Iovine and Eagles collaborators, to a period of prescription drug dependency during the making of Street Angel that left her career and sense of self badly shaken.

After leaving rehab clear-headed but doubting she had anything left to say, Nicks asked Petty for help writing again; he refused, telling her she was already one of the premier songwriters in the business and should simply go home, block out outside influences and write. She has said this advice "reinforced" her identity as an artist, and she went on to prove it with the album Trouble in Shangri-La. The article frames Petty as a steady, undemanding presence throughout their long working relationship, someone who believed in her talent without needing to take credit for it.