Ahead of the release of her new EP, ‘BAYTOWN,’ we caught up with ‘The Voice’ alum, RaeLynn, about her new music, joining Florida Georgia Line’s record label and more!
More than three years after the release of her album, WildHorse, country star, RaeLynn, is back with a brand new EP, BAYTOWN. The six-song record dropped on Aug. 14. This is the first full set of music that RaeLynn has released as an artist on Round Here Records, the label founded by Florida Georgia Line singers, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley.
“It’s super confident and unapologetic,” RaeLynn told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY of the EP. “When I moved to Nashville and got a little older, people’s opinions and views of me started weighing on me. Then I got married [in 2016], I found my confidence again. I realized I wanted my songwriting to match my real personality, which is unapologetic and myself. I love Jesus, but I love to have a good time. I didn’t feel like I had tapped into that side or part of my personality and that part of myself. When I think about this music, I think about just finding the voice that everybody sees when they meet me and finding what that would be in a songwriting format.”
RaeLynn’s ‘BAYTOWN’ EP cover. (Round Here Records)
RaeLynn, who was on season 2 of The Voice in 2012, joined Round Here Records in 2019. She admitted that the label helped her feel confident enough to put out this new wave of music. “I just always feel valued, I always feel heard and I always feel super seen by this team,” she explained. “That’s what you want to feel as an artist. You want to come into a label and feel like your opinion matters. You want people that truly believe. I’m not saying I didn’t have that before, because I did, but I needed it on another level with this new phase in my life and career.”
She added, “I wanted to be with a company that was innovative in their thinking. They think outside the box and outside of country radio. They think, ‘What’s a way we can break Rae that’s different?’ You never know how you’re going to break as an artist. You just have to keep doing it. I just love the way that they have viewed chasing and breaking artists. It’s very innovative and that’s awesome.”
RaeLynn stuns in blue for a photo shoot ahead of the release of her album, ‘BAYTOWN.’ (Ford Fairchild)
How involved are the guys from FGL in what you’re doing? They’re very much part of it. Every time I’m excited about something or really love something, I send it to them. There’s something so cool about being part of a label that’s run by artists. They know what it’s like to put a live show together, to put songs together for country radio or for streaming. They know what it means to have a brand and a stylist and all that. They know all aspects of the business, so they’re really able to hone in on that and let me roll with things. That is such a pivotal part of being an artist.
What’s something you learned on ‘The Voice’ that you take with you in your career today? That it’s okay to have a unique voice! Before The Voice, I’d never heard a voice like mine before. I didn’t know if it was good, didn’t know if it was bad. I love that the show made me confident that the voice that God gave me was different and that different voice has carried me all the way through my career. That’s been life-changing for me. Different is beautiful. Different makes you stand out on the radio. Different is what makes you work in the long haul.
RaeLynn is ravishing in red for a photo shoot. (Ford Fairchild)
Is this EP part of a bigger project and what else is coming up next for you? I’m really open, honestly. I’m open to adding more songs to it and making it a full album. I’m open to having another EP. I’m open to what the fans want and following the music and following my heart. That’s what’s so beautiful about where I’m at in my career right now and label-wise — I can do that. I have the freedom to put out this EP and just see what’s going to happen. There’s a freedom that I never had before. I don’t really know what the future holds, but in a cool way, because I can go any which way with it, which I’m really excited about.
What do you hope fans take away from ‘BAYTOWN’? With each project, I want people to learn a little bit more about me. This project, honestly, I feel like it really tapped into my whole brand and heart, which is to have a good time, values, being a good person, loving people, dancing and just having a good time. All of those things are just a part of me. I want people to just listen to it and be on a journey. I feel like a lot of the things that I say…not everybody will say. So I hope I can be a voice for some country girls out there who want to hear songs like what I’m putting out.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
