I had such a blast interviewing new country star Halle Kearns – check out Part 1 of our interview here, and read on to find out about life in the studio, dream artists to tour with, crying in the front row, intentions, and more – enjoy!
CC: We’ve spoken about your previous EP, but you've already got another one in the works for us – Every Girl, due out this December. Talk me through the inspiration behind that EP title.
HK: I'm so excited for this one! This is a little more of a concept album. Every Girl is actually the title track, and the main line of that song is ‘if you want to know the woman I've become, you've got to meet every girl I ever was’, so the album walks you through all the different versions of me that I've been throughout my life. For example, Nothing Left can reflect on any age I've been, but that feeling really started around 12 years old, where I took on that role of ‘I'm the nurturer. I'm the mom. I have to be this certain person for everyone.’ Every Girl encapsulates all of the different versions of me that I’ve been.
CC: Ooh, I love that! So we’ve know about Nothing Left and Every Girl - what else can we expect?
HK: I have another single coming out soon. I'm actually going into the studio today to work on it!
CC: What does an average day in the studio look like for you?
HK: Chaos? (laughs) No, it's always different. It's just fun. I love being a part of that process and I feel like I'm still learning so much every time I'm in the studio. It's really great to just sit there and be a sponge and figure out all the ins and outs of it. On this song I’m working on right now, I'm going to be doing vocals, so there'll be a lot of ‘start and go’ and just singing the song over and over again.
CC: Are you the type who can just walk into the studio and get things done, or do you have a routine that gets you in the right mindset to record?
HK: I don't have a lot of a routine, I just feel it out day by day!
CC: Living life on the edge! In spite of only releasing your first single last year, you already have a pretty impressive resume behind you, having opened for the likes of Trace Adkins, David Nail, Eli Young Band. Who is a dream artist that you'd like to share the stage with?
HK: Oh my goodness, there are so many! I adore Kacey Musgraves with every piece of me. The Chicks would be a really cool one because that's what I grew up listening to. Alan Jackson, George Strait. I actually have posters of them hanging on my wall. Tim McGraw would be really cool too.
CC: I’d love to see you tour with some of them soon! Touring has obviously been a little difficult over the past few years – what are you most excited for when you get to play your songs for people again?
HK: I think just there's no way to describe that feeling of being up on stage and just entertaining and connecting with a crowd. I'm just really excited for that kind of unnameable feeling that I get both as an audience member and also being on stage. There's just this thing about live music that I don't think anyone can describe. I'm ready for that feeling again.
CC: Are there any songs that you're particularly excited to play?
HK: I think Nothing Left is the only song that I haven't gotten to play live yet, so I'm really excited to see how that goes over in concert because it’s definitely not your typical ‘concert banger’. It’s the song that I felt the most connection through, so I'm really excited and anxious to see how people react to it live.
CC: There’ll definitely be some crying in the front row.
HK: My goal is just to make everyone cry! (laughs)
CC: Now that we know about that goal, is there anything else you can share that fans might not know about you?
HK: I think people might not know that what you see when it comes to my branding and visuals is actually the way I live. If you look at my apartment, it looks like one of my cover arts, it's all just pink, glittery, cowgirl, sparkly. I live it out completely.
CC: I’ve noticed that with your album covers – they always look so amazingly Instagram-worthy! How do you come up with those visuals?
HK: First of all, thank you! Honestly, it's just stuff that I like, things that I would like to look at. I think visuals are super important and having them tied in with the sound is crucial for me. I just create what I would like to see as a consumer, and it usually just turns out to be super girly!
CC: No one’s complaining! We’ve chatted about your music, Kacey Musgraves’, Tim McGraw’s – are there any underrated artists out there that you think everyone should be listening to?
HK: Absolutely! There's a guy named Sean McConnell here in town. He's an incredible writer and he just has my favourite voice of all time. I adore him. I know you know Seaforth (hint about the next Ciara’s Country interview!) - they are so incredible, and I think they are incredibly underhyped, but thankfully I don't think that will last very long, they’ll blow up soon! Haley Mae Campbell is a friend of mine - she's starting to get some traction, and she is just an angel of a human and also just incredibly talented.
CC: Do you ever bump into these kinds of people just walking the streets of Nashville?
HK: Oh, yes, all the time!
CC: I’m so jealous! My last question for you Halle – what is one question that you've never been asked in an interview but would love to be?
HK: Maybe what the intention behind my music is.
CC: I'm turning that back on you then - what is the intention?
HK: Ah, I should have thought about that! My intention has always been to
build connection with people - that's the most important part to me. Whether that ends up being just twenty people that really felt something through my music and we built this eternal bond through it; or if it’s two million - whatever the number is, I just want that human connection to be deepened through my music.
There's a tonne of things that can distract you and pull you away from the intention, but I always try and have a lot of really good people around me who can bring me back to ‘why are you doing this? What is the intention?’ I actually have something like that tattooed on my wrist - it says ‘then what?’ It's my dad's handwriting and it’s something he said to me all the time when I was growing up, and it's cool how it's played into my career. Making sure my ‘then what?’ is always in line, and making sure that at the end of the day, I can rest my head easy knowing that I'm doing this for no reason other than to spread love and to connect with people. That's what needs to matter.
CC: What an awesome life motto – ‘then what?’ Halle, this has been such a pleasure - I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to chat with me and I'm so excited for Every Girl to come out soon.
HK: I'm so excited too, thank you so much!
Huge thanks to Halle for taking the time to join me for our interview! I hope you enjoyed reading it – if you did, do let us know on socials @CiarasCountry and @HalleKearns. Even more interviews coming your way soon – stay tuned :)
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