Erin Kirby's journey in country music is very much worth keeping your eyes on. With a powerful voice and a knack for storytelling, ex American Idol alumni Kirby has quickly made a name for herself in the industry. Her vocals take center stage in her latest mid-tempo release ‘Leaving Eyes,' which explores genuine love from the perspective of an ex-lover, showcasing her ability to convey deep emotions through her music.
Kirby burst onto the country scene with her debut single, ‘Boys These Days,' captivating listeners with her heartfelt lyrics and authentic sound. Since then, she has released four additional singles, each one further establishing her as a formidable talent in country music. One of her standout moments came when she recorded a duet with Sony Music Nashville's Kameron Marlowe. The collaboration came about after Kirby's TikTok duet of Marlowe's song ‘I Can Lie (The Truth Is)' went viral, amassing over 1 million views. This viral success led to an official recording of the song, which was featured by Billboard as a Must Hear New Song and has since garnered over 1.6 million streams on Spotify alone.
Thank you for giving us your time today, Erin, especially in release week. How has the response to ‘Leaving Eyes' been? Have you been pleased?
It's been awesome. So many people have told me that they love the song and that it's a different side of me that they are seeing. I appreciate that and I feel the same! (laughing) It means a lot to me that people can hear that.
It is a very bluesy vibe and a different sound to songs like ‘Pick My Own Flowers' and ‘Boys These Days.' Was that a deliberate choice on your part – to show this different side to you?
It was! When I first started music, being from Georgia, I'd only sung in Atlanta which is really full of Soul music, there isn't that much of a Country scene there at all. That was all I sang – James Brown, Etta James and so that side of me definitely bled through into ‘Leavin' Eyes.' I decided not to hide it – it was such a big part of my music journey.
It's an interestingly written song in terms of you taking the narrator's role and advising an ex's new girlfriend. It was written with Adam Hambrick, who we are big fans of at Entertainment Focus. Tell me about where the idea for the song came from.
I had this idea when I was driving back home from Nashville to Georgia one time and I was thinking about how women tend to grieve a relationship, sometimes, before it is even over. We tend to get these thoughts around, ‘this relationship is too good to be true – when is it going to end?'
One morning I woke up at about 4am and fleshed out the idea a little more and I knew I had a write with Adam and Danny coming up and so I pitched it to them and they loved the idea but were, like, ‘maybe we make it a little less dark?' (laughing) We came up with the story around the song and it turned out perfectly.
Let's talk about the video to ‘Leaving Eyes' which, to me, has a real kind of James Bond meets Adele aesthetic – did you enjoy filming it and do you like being in front of the cameras?
(clapping) Yay! That makes me so happy to hear because that was exactly the vibe we were going for. I like having a lot of fun infront of the camera, I feel like a video really makes a song come alive if it is done in the right way. The video to ‘Leaving Eyes' is really quite simple – simple colours, simple outfits – but I think it really compliments the song.
I loved your previous song ‘Pick My Own Flowers' and although that and ‘Leaving Eyes' sound differently I think there is a commonality between them in terms of the messages of strength and empowerment. Would you agree?
Yes, absolutely. ‘Pick My Own Flowers' was one of the first songs that I wrote when I moved to Nashville. That was a couple of years ago but I am still in this lane where I am supposed to be preaching to younger girls and women right now.
Is that a weight on your shoulders or do you find that you enjoy being in this kind of ‘big sister' role?
I think it's a little bit of both. I did pageants when I was younger and so the sisterhood of that was such an important thing for me so I guess that has just carried on. When I think about all the pageant sisters that I had that are now listening to my songs – I want to help them navigate relationships and that transition into adulthood.
Was it a very competitive scene, the pageant scene, or was there a family or community there?
It was definitely a family. Don't get me wrong, when you put a bunch of females together there is always going to be drama but it is a great community. The pageants I did were natural ones so there were rules like girls under 9 couldn't wear make up, it was all about embracing yourself so the interview was a major part of it as was community service. There were times we all went out together and worked on a farm or served at a cabin somewhere. It wasn't always make up and dresses.
Is that where your love of music and wanting to perform came from? You ended up in L.A. doing Pop and R&B eventually.
Yes. The first time I ever sang was in a pageant. Where else is a 9 year old supposed to sing? I found a community that supported my talent and encouraged me to develop it. I made so many friends through it and we still talk all the time.
My family have always been so supportive too. My parents love music……they don't do music, but they love it. They have always told me and my brother that they would always support us in whatever it was we wanted to do. My mom helped me through a lot of stuff.
When did Nashville and Country music start to call to you?
Oh gosh, I would say right after Covid. I was in L.A. that March when Covid kicked in and I got sent home a few weeks early and I got the opportunity to go back to Georgia and re-fall back in love with my hometown and all the little redneck things about it. It was then that I started to really get into Country music, it had always been around but I focused in on the things that were speaking to me right then.
I met my manager in Nashville when I was about to turn 18 thanks to my wonderful attorney in Atlanta and I really felt like I had found a team and a genre and a purpose. So I moved to Nashville! (laughing) Maybe I should write a song about it and get a little bit more vulnerable! (laughing)
What's the best and worst things about living in Nashville and did you have imposter syndrome when you first got there?
Goodness. I don't think I did have imposter syndrome, you know. The best thing is the community of people that are in the town. I am such a ‘quality time' kind of person and the community of people that you find there is wonderful. The worst thing about Nashville is definitely the traffic! (laughing) It's still better than Atlanta but the drivers are a little crazy out here, for sure. A bit wild and they don't pay attention at all!
Do you have a favourite place you like to play in Nashville?
I'm not sure I have found one place over all the others, I'm still looking. I think The Listening Room is superb, it's such a legendary and fantastic venue so that is probably my favourite place outside of the Grand Ole Opry, of course, which I got to play with Kameron Marlowe! (laughing)
It was about this time last year you released the duet with Kameron Marlowe called ‘I Can Lie (The Truth Is). How did that come about?
It all came from TikTok. He had posted a video looking for a girl to do a duet and I thought, what the heck, I was such a big fan of his that I thought even if he just sees it and makes a comment, it would make my whole life, right? So I posted it and it did a lot more than just that! (laughing) People were telling us we should do the song together and then Kameron surprised me in the studio one day and asked me to do the song.
Is TikTok a platform that you love and embrace or is it a frustrating, time-consuming kind of wild west?
When I first started on TikTok I actually blew up with a hair video that ended up with 10 million views and now TikTok was, like, ‘she's a hair girl and nothing else' so I had to spend a year and half posting music content at least once a day to change the algorithm, which was very frustrating!
Once I'd done that I realised that it wasn't just supposed to be work, I switched my mindset so that it became a lot more fun and I love it now. I realised that when you are not trying so hard and you are not thinking too much about it, the videos do a lot better because they are more authentic. People just want to feel like they are on Facetime on TikTok and that's kinda where I've gone with it.
I interviewed Drew Baldridge recently and his manipulation of TikTok and the radio industry to get ‘She's Somebody's Daughter' into the Top 10 is fascinating. Have you been paying attention to his story as somebody in a similar position?
Yes, absolutely. I actually wrote with Drew about a year and a half ago and I got to see the side of him that is just Drew. He's such a sweet soul and seeing him having this success makes me so happy.
Who has been your favourite writer that you've written with since you've been in Nashville?
Oh my gosh, that's such a tough question because there are so many of them! One person that does come to mind is Keesy Timmer. He's written with Kelsea Ballerini a good bit, his infectious joy is like no other. The day is always going to be fun when you write with Keesy.
If you could get into a room with any writer of your choice tomorrow to write your next single, who would you choose and why?
Another hard question! I have such a long list! (laughing) There is somebody I've been wanting to write with for a while now and that's Joe Fox. He writes with Dylan Marlowe and I'm a huge fan of Dylan's lyrics and I know that he produces for him too. He's one of the top people on my list.
What's the plan for the rest of the year? Is there an EP or larger body of work in the pipeline or are you happy releasing single songs right now and building from there?
I've never released an EP before so that is definitely in my plans for the future. Right now, I'm definitely focusing on ‘Leaving Eyes' and writing a bunch more. All I can say right now is pay attention to my social media because, one day, there just might be a little post coming that will reveal a whole lot more! (laughing)
