We interview Tenille Arts about her experience on The Bachelor, her new album and the song she wrote for her mother.
So this is your first trip to the UK, do you know really what to expect from the UK country scene?
I had heard that everyone over here in the UK really loves and listens to the lyrics.
That’s so important, particularly in your songs that do feel like stories.
It’s so important, you get a little bit of that in Nashville, with the Listening Room and the Bluebird and places like that, but it’s definitely not like that everywhere you perform.
It’s been a busy few months for you, because you made your Opry debut back in September. How was that – obviously it’s such a hugely important moment for every country singer?
I still feel like I’m on a high from that, it was so much fun and my entire family flew down from Canada to be at my debut.
That must be so special, because as an artist you don’t get to share every moment like that with your family.
Yeah it was very special to get to share that with everybody and I made sure to just take it all in, because I think sometimes you can get so nervous in those big pressured situations and just black out. I really wanted to try and take it in and I think I did that.
You grew up back in Canada, so what was it like growing up there in terms of the musical scene, have you always had country music running through your veins?
I grew up listening to country music, I loved it, it was what we listened to on the radio, so I grew up listening to the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain – especially with her being from Canada – but I always knew that I wanted to go to Nashville because everybody’s there and there’s not really like a hub for country music in Canada, which is why I went to Nashville.
The first song I think I ever heard of yours was ‘Wildfire and Whiskey,’ which I think I automatically connected to because of that songwriting element being so at the core of what you do – the clever, storytelling lyrics are so integral and important in your music – so is that something you’ve always done.
I’ve always tried to think like that, I’ve just grown up listening to music where the lyrics were really important, so I think that’s what I’ve tried to do in my music and just be honest and real and talk about real stuff that you’re going through, because I think that’s the only way that people are really going to relate.
Two of your tracks were on The Bachelor which caused them to blow up a bit. How did that come about? It must have been a crazy, weird experience to be a part of?
Yeah (laughs) it was definitely a unique experience I’ll say that, performing for just the couple, you don’t know where to look (laughs), you don’t want to stare at them. It came about because my manager had been sending music to them for a while and they heard a couple of songs that they really loved, so the first time I played a song called ‘Moment of Weakness’ which almost sounded like we wrote it for the show – it was crazy – and then ‘I Hate This’ was the second time I performed, that was more of an audience thing, there were actually people there.
‘Rebel Child’ was the first longer project you put out. What was the experience like of releasing that to the world?
It made sense to call it ‘Rebel Child‘ because there were just so many different sides of me in there, like the younger rebellious side and then growing up and realising different things. I put a lot of thought into that album and it was just so great to release my first project. I did that completely independently.
That must have been completely different then, in comparison to your current project.
Yeah it is different. It was fun both times though. This time I’ve been able to focus more on the music and less on the little things, the kind of stuff that’s really stressful – you don’t want to mess it up and if you do it’s on you. This time I’ve really enjoyed working on my new album.
‘Call Me Names’ and ‘Somebody Like That’ were released first off. ‘Call Me Names’ was so incredibly relatable as a mother-daughter song and it’s a feeling that I feel every girl relates to. That song must have meant a lot to your mum?
I think it did yeah, the first time that I played it for her she cried, it was just a really special moment. I’ve always wanted to write her a song and it just turned out that I wasn’t the best kid when I was like fourteen or fifteen years old and it was nice to be able to come back.
These tracks and this project do feel like a step up in terms of your music and the themes. Do you feel that you’ve found your groove and growth as an artist, there’s more you want to say now?
I thought I knew who I was when I put together ‘Rebel Child’ and now I’m realising that there were still a lot of things that I still had to figure out and now I feel like with this album there’s a lot more content and I’ve lived a lot more life. I went through my first big break-up last year and I feel like everyone around me was secretly like ‘yes, a break up that’s great.’
One track I really wanted to ask you about from ‘Rebel Child’ was ‘Cold Feet’ because I’ve listened to that song so many times. How did that song come to you?
That was actually the only song on the album that I didn’t write and it was a song that the first time I heard it, I was like ‘oh my gosh.’ It felt like those Nicholas Spark books… It’s a real story song, which is what I love so much about country music. I related to it, because for me it was like looking back on a past relationship and always wondering, ‘is that person going to come back into my life or no?’
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Final Few
Wine or whiskey? Wine.
Would you rather give up songwriting or performing? Performing.
Is there a record you couldn’t live without if you were stuck on a desert island? Probably any Dixie Chicks record.
Do you have a pre-show ritual? Not really, I do some warm ups and just try to chill out.
Music is… everything to me.
Country music is… the best kind of music.
Tenille Arts is…. very happy to be in the UK.
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