Taylor Austin Dye first fell in love with music at the age of five. Since then, she’s built an impressive career, starting with her debut album ‘Out of These Hills,' which launched her into the country spotlight. Known for her raw, unapologetic style, Dye’s music has struck a chord with fans worldwide, amassing over 39 million streams and garnering a devoted social media following she lovingly calls her “Ride or Dyes.” Her recent partnership with Warner Chappell Music marks a significant milestone, reflecting her growth as a songwriter and artist and the results can be heard on her fabulous new album, ‘Sick of Me.'
This 11-track collection dives into themes of self-reflection, resilience, and personal transformation. With its gritty storytelling and emotional depth ‘Sick of Me' is poised to connect with her expanding fanbase and solidify Dye’s place among country’s most exciting new voices and we were thrilled to catch up with Taylor to talk all about it.
Thank you for your time today, Taylor. We're loving your new album and the fresh, fiery approach you bring to the Country music scene.
Thank you very much for saying that, I appreciate it.
Have you been pleased with the reaction to ‘Sick of Me' so far?
Yeah! We've been touring the new songs for about a month now and the ‘Ride or Dyes' (Taylor's loyal and vocal fans) have had an incredible response to them. They have been screaming along and singing every word to every song so I think we're all enjoying it right now.
Are you getting a sense from live shows or from streaming if there are any songs raising their heads above any other ones right now or is it too soon to tell?
The album already has over a million streams on Spotify so I'm thrilled about that! People seem to be loving ‘Echo,' which has become one of my new favourites. Live, people seem to be loving ‘Little Miss Fortune' and are really vibing with ‘Sick of Me' too. It seems like everyone I talk to has a different favourite song, which is really interesting.
That was one of the things we were going to say to you that everytime we listen to the album, a different song resonates. That's the sign of a really strong album!
I think so and I appreciate you saying that.
Let's start off with the title track, then. What was it about ‘Sick of Me' that spoke to you as being the title of the album?
You know, this is my sophomore album and I wanted to it be about noticing the flaws in yourself and admitting to them. The song pushes the idea that it's ok to want to be better and I think that set the tone for the rest of the album. It really stuck out as the title track and poster child for the rest of the project.
There's a real theme of self-growth, resilience and independence running through the whole album – did you set out to create that when you began to put the album together or did that just emerge organically?
We started writing for this project as soon as my debut album dropped so it's been about a year and a half now. There was just some things that I truly just wanted to say and when we sat down and listened to the first batch of songs we noticed that the theme of ‘growth' featured in a lot of them so we decided to pick songs that would just add to that idea.
How many songs did you have to leave off the project?
Oh my!!! (laughing) So many!! There's so many I have that I still want to put out so I definitely think there will be some more new music in 2025 although who knows what could happen with algorithms and the such like! (laughing)
Oh yeah! I mean you could end up with a Drew Baldridge kind of situation where one song takes off and takes years to get to number one, right?
Right! And you know what? I wouldn't complain about that a bit! (laughing)
We can hear a little Avril Lavigne-esque Pop/Punk on the title track. Was she ever an inspiration to you?
Oh, I just saw her in concert a couple of months ago! I got the ‘Sk8er Boi' album for Christmas one year when I was, like 8 years old so I've always been a big fan. I'm a huge fan of that whole world, you know, bands like Nickelback, Creed, Daughtry and just all those Rock acts – even across to artists like Fall Out Boy and Paramore. I like to borrow from that genre in my music a lot.
On other songs, like ‘Fake Ring' and ‘Poison in the Well' I can hear a Carrie Underwood-esque ‘power Country' sound, which suits your and your voice really well.
Thank you. I definitely grew up listening to all of that. I've picked and plucked influences from here and there as I've found my style and sound over the years.
‘Almost Oklahoma' has a really original and truly fresh storyline for Country music. Where did that idea come from?
So, I wrote that song with my good friend, JB Patterson, and he had the title already. The original idea was based around meeting this girl in Oklahoma and not being able to get over her, that no other girl could compare to the one back in Oklahoma. That's kinda where the song started but as we got into it I said, ‘Wait, we could make this song darker – what if the girl was dead?' JB was, like, ‘Urgh! You're so sick but I love it!' (laughing)
The bridge to that song just kinda fell out of nowhere and tied the whole thing together really well. It's one of the all time favourite songs that I have written, for sure. It hits everyone different.
Talk to me about the inspirations behind ‘Hurt My Feelings' because that song feels very raw and vulnerable?
It really is. When I wrote that song I had never written with the other two co-writers (Brooke Lynn and Chase McDaniel) before…… had never even met them. We got into the room together and started sharing all our deepest, darkest secrets and I started telling them about my relationship with my dad, which is no secret, I'm an open book and Brooke started talking about a girlfriend that she had that did her wrong and the song ended up as a culmination of a couple of stories that emerged that day.
The whole idea of the song is based around wishing that you could just get rid of your emotions instead of having to deal with them on a day to day basis.
Do you find it easy to be vulnerable when you are writing a song or is that something that you've had to learn how to do?
I've definitely struggled with it in the past. I worried about putting stuff out there that people might get their feelings hurt by, you know? Now that I'm older and have been writing songs for 10+ years I'm kinda to the point where I really don't care now! (laughing) It's better for the writer and better for the song if you are just really truthful and honest and authentic in your work and people can really hear that in the end.
What was the easiest song on the album for you to write and which song took the longest to get it to where you wanted it to be?
The easiest song was ‘Fake Ring' because it's just a true story. I sat down with myself and just hashed it out and wrote that one in about an hour or so, maybe? It's just a true story so I didn't have to sugar coast anything or make up anything.
The one that took the longest might have been ‘Sick of Me.' I know we went into the studio and revised it several times. I wanted that one to be perfect and have that big bridge – I also wanted all those different parts that go on at the end of the song to be just right too. It's ended up being one of my favourites so it was worth the time we put into it, for sure.
The sequencing of albums is something that always fascinates me, particularly which song artists choose to close down their albums with. You've gone with ‘Nothing Left to Lose', which is the most muted and quiet song on a very loud and powerful album. Tell me about the decisions behind that choice.
That song is really just about living life and running at it hard and then in the end, you know, understanding that we are all just the same…. we're all gonna die at some point, no matter what you do with your life. We chose a more acoustic production on that song, which gets the message and the point across better and it just made sense to close down this chapter of my life with that song as the final thing that you hear on the album.
Alongside the album you have some great videos out there! ‘Rest in Peace' was a great video. ‘Almost Oklahoma' is great, ‘Poison in the Well' is cool, ‘Damage Control' is another engaging one. Do you like performing in front of the cameras or is that something that you've had to learn to do as well?
I love it! It's so fun to me to get all dressed up and have everybody there. It's like a big party, almost. We're all just hanging out and having fun between takes, it's incredible. Our video guy is off the chain and I love working with him.
Do you have a favourite video that you've filmed?
I think my new favourite one is for ‘Sick of Me' which comes out today!! We are very excited about that one, it was such fun to film. You'll find me in a psychiatric hospital in a gown and I break out and steal a van, run from the cops, all that stuff – it was super fun to film.
We wanted to say congratulations on your recent Opry debut as well.
Thank you. It was the perfect day, I couldn't have asked for anything better.
Even back to the video of Jamey Johnson asking you to make your debut – that was so sweet. Did you enjoy the night? Did it pass in a blur or were you able to take it what was happening?
Oh my gosh. We were actually on the set of the ‘Sick of Me' video shoot that day and I was all dressed up. I didn't suspect a thing! My manager and Jamey are close friends so I didn't think that it would be weird that he would be calling. For him to invite me like that caught me totally off guard, it was a really special moment for me.
I heard a lot of people say that they kinda black out and that they don't remember a lot about the first time they play the Opry but I was kinda pretty much the opposite. When I got in that circle I didn't want to close my eyes or not remember anything. I wanted to take it all in so I remembered every detail and I'll never forget it for as long as I live. I got to play two songs: I played ‘Almost Oklahoma' and ‘Rest in Peace.' ‘Rest in Peace' was a no brainer for me, that song has opened up so many doors and has brought in so many ‘Ride or Dye' fans but picking one from the new album was a little more tricky – the people over at the Opry love ‘Almost Oklahoma' so it made sense to go with that one.
Is that you stage diving recently on a video on your Instagram??!! Tell me about that – is that something you do regularly or did the mood just take you?
(laughing) I did!! We were in Lexington, Kentucky!! I've never done it before and I was, actually, the first person to successfully do it at that venue! (laughing) It felt good, it felt right in the moment and they caught me, right, so that was good too! (laughing)
You recently signed a deal with Warner Chappell. Could you explain what impact that signing has had and will have on your career?
This is all super new and super fresh to me. Signing with them has already given me so many opportunities. They have a beautiful space to write in, beautiful studios and I've already been paired up with some incredible songwriters too. It's such fun to meet new people and new writers that you haven't worked with before that can, maybe, give you a fresh take on some older ideas that I've had. I'm hoping that it helps me to develop that next story and that next sound in my career.
If they could get you into a room tomorrow to write the first song from your next album with any writers of your choice that you haven't worked with yet – who would you choose and why?
I would choose Wendell Mobley, I think. He's a fantastic writer and I love his work. Him and Jeffrey Steele are my two all time favourite writers. Both of those guys are definitely bucket list writes for me – we need to speak it into existence, for sure.
Hopefully we might see you over here in the UK during this ‘Sick of Me' phase of your career – you have lots of people enjoying your songs over here right now.
Hey, fingers crossed! We have some whisperings of maybe that happening sometime around the middle of next year and I would love to come across and play for you guys!
Check out Taylor Austin Dye's new album ‘Sick Of Me' – available in all the usual places right now. Our review of the album is right here.
