Just over a year ago,
Halle Kearns released her very first country single. Today, she has over 3.5 million
streams across her songs - this is only the beginning for Halle, so I was keen
to find out what it took for Halle to make her mark in the industry. She was
kind enough to join me for chats (and laughs) about debut EP ‘Finally’, writing
happy & sad songs, finding the balance between people-pleasing and
selflove, and much more – enjoy!
Ciara’s Country (CC): One of my
favourite things to do is highlight amazing female country singers, and I
have a great one for you today! I’m joined by rising star Halle Kearns - welcome,
Halle!
Halle Kearns (HK): Thank you so much, that's the sweetest intro!
CC: The past year has been a bit
of a whirlwind for you – what’s that been like?
HK: Yeah, I released my first song in July of 2020, so it's really been only
about a year now! I'd been playing music full time for about four years prior
to that, so it was weird because I've been in the industry for a while. I feel
like the past year was my first mark of ‘here I am, I can actually give you all
music!’
CC: Your first release was Pick Me Up, which was also the first
song of yours that I heard. It’s such a summery song about working a long, hard
week and just needing that well deserved pick-me-up. What’s a pick-me-up for
you?
HK: Honestly, my pick-me-ups are just laying low, which is kind of funny! I
like turning my brain off and hanging out my friends - anything that I don't
have to think about or anything I can use my hands on. Basically the opposite
of what I'm doing during the workweek!
CC: What kind of things do you
like to do to relax?
HK: I actually got into sewing recently, which is super strange, but I’ve
learned how to hand sew! And I like being outside with my friends, hanging out
and getting to catch up and talk about what they're up to and everything.
That's my favourite.
CC: Thanks for sharing your
pick-me-ups, and indeed the song Pick Me
Up, which was featured on your debut EP, Finally. I really like that EP title, because in my head that’s
what I imagine all your fans were thinking – ‘finally, Halle’s giving us some
more music!’ Can you shed some light on where that EP name actually came from?
HK: For sure! I’d been playing music full time back in Missouri and Kansas
for about four years by that point, so by the time I started releasing music,
it really did feel like that - that sigh of relief of ‘okay, we're finally
doing this’. I called my dad and told him we were really struggling with the EP
title - we'd gone through so many different options, and nothing was really
clicking. He just went ‘how about Finally?’
and I thought it was actually really cool. We sat with it for a minute, and
then I just decided it makes sense because it's finally happening - after
working on music for five, six years, I finally got my first project out. It
just made sense to conclude with that.
CC: How did it feel finally
releasing all of that new music to everyone?
HK: There's no feeling like that. I cried most of the day! It came out on
December 11 and it was a mix of emotions - that sigh of relief that it was out
in the world and the work in terms of its creation was all finished, and now
it’s just out there for people to enjoy. Then there's anxiety around it,
there's excitement, so many different emotions that overcome you when releasing
a project like that. I think I felt a little bit of everything and all of it
just came out as tears all day!
CC: Happy
tears, excited tears, anxious tears.
HK: Exactly!
CC: What I really like about what you did with Finally is that even though there's just
a few songs on it, you managed to fit in a variety of different kinds of songs
- happy
songs like Whatever You Do, sad songs like Before He Could. Do you find
yourself tending to write more happy or sad songs?
HK: Lately, it’s still that blend, but I just try really hard to be honest
with what my story is. That's kind of where the focus has shifted, so I'm
making sure every lyric and every line is so authentic to what I've
experienced, because the more I lean into that, the more connection I'm feeling
with my listeners and with the people around me. I'm really working hard every
time I'm writing to be like, ‘okay, this lyric sounds really good, but is it
something I've actually gone through? Is it something I actually believe?’
That’s the direction I'm going right now.
CC: I love how you mentioned
honesty there because that’s definitely something we can see in your new
releases. You’ve just released Nothing Left,
the first single from your next EP, and that song is honesty to a tee. It's a
heartwrenching track about a girl giving everything to those around her and
leaving her own self drained. Is that something that you wrote from personal
experience?
HK: Absolutely, yes. That song comes from a place of being told, even from a
young age, ‘oh, you're so sweet. You're so loving. Thank you for always being
there.’ I think when you're young and you're told those things, you think,
‘well, people love me because I'm like this.’ It becomes an identity thing.
It's not that I don't love helping and being there for other people, but there
are some times where you need to look after yourself and say no to certain
things, and not just people please all the time. I think I get that line
blurred a lot.
Nothing Left came from that place - a day where I was just feeling super drained, super
empty, just like I didn’t have any more to give. Of course, those things comes
come in waves and you need to learn how to manage them. It's a beautiful role
to play if you can figure out the balance, but this is a song about a girl who
doesn't have that balance yet.
CC: I think that's something that
a lot of people can probably relate to – giving so much to other people and not
actually giving enough to yourself. Have you found that balance yet?
HK: I think it’s a process of remembering and forgetting, like anything else
in life. There are days where I think I've really found the healthy balance and
then days where I'm like, ‘wow, I'm really drained and I don't know why.’ Then
I reflect on my week and see ‘oh, yeah, I've been running, running, running all
the time’, so I just need to sit and be. I think it's constantly reminding
yourself whenever you get like that that it's okay to feel really drained right
now, but because I feel this way I need to make sure I'm taking some time for
myself – to get refreshed and do whatever I need to do to. Self love.
CC: Good advice! Out of all of the
songs you’ve worked on, do
you have a favourite that you've written or released?
HK: It depends on the day! Like you said, Finally was a little bit of everything and I think I wanted it to
be a little intro into who I am as a person and as an artist as well. I hope
with each of these releases to go deeper into that, but my favourite right now
is probably still Shoes to Fill, only
because I am the biggest daddy's girl in the world. That song is all about
honouring my dad, so I think that's always going to hold a special place no
matter how many other songs I write, no matter how old I get.
CC: Is
your dad the first person you call whenever you have news about your songs?
HK: Yep! For anything - news about my songs, any update with friends,
anything going on in my life, any good, bad, ugly situation. He's my first
call. I'm 24 years old, but I still call my dad!
Halle was such a lovely
interviewee that we couldn’t stop talking – I’ll be posting Part 2 of our
interview soon, where we chat new projects, average days in the studio, dream
artists to tour with, that cover art, and more. Stay tuned on Twitter
@CiarasCountry to be the first to know when that’s live – thanks so much for
reading!
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