Bailey Bryan Knows Just How She Wants to ‘Own’ Her Sound

From the looks of it, Bailey Bryan is doing pretty well for her young age. While she still may be nearing the end of her teens, her wise spirit and clever songwriting outlook is way beyond her 18 years. Using her authentic and vulnerable viewpoint on life and pushing it into storytelling songs, Bryan is on her way to become the next big thing in country music.

Growing up in Small Town, USA (a.k.a. Sequim, Washington), Bryan quickly caught on to the farming lifestyle that surrounded her every move.  Instead of letting the comfort of a sleepy city wash over her dreams of a music career, she embraced what she knew and found her first inspiration.

“I grew up in a little tiny town in Washington state, like a few hours outside of Seattle. So I was getting stuck behind tractors on the way to school and everyone was a farmer. It’s the lavender capital of the world. We have, like, a thousand lavender farms, so there’s definitely that rural influence and country music was definitely like prevalent where I grew up,” Bryan explained to Sounds Like Nashville in a phone interview.

But after finding new light in alternative sounds sent in from the city of Seattle, Bryan realized she wanted to reflect on every genre she enjoyed in order to create her own infused sound. Taking hours-long trips to the closest metropolis, the country newcomer found different flavors of music to mix into her traditional country upbringing.

“I could drive a few hours—and I did as I got older—and be in Seattle where there is this incredible underground hip-hop scene and alternative. So I’m a huge fan of Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Drake, Macklemore, all those different types of music ended up influencing me, especially as I’ve gotten older. So I hope to, as I continue to make music and release my first album in country, bring in all those different sounds to create something no one’s ever heard before,” she said.

And yet through it all, Bryan still remained stuck on her first love of telling a genuine story for what it is. While the sounds and styles of music mattered, she still wanted the words to represent who she was as an artist and a person. Enter “Own It,” a pop-country jam written by Bryan, Dennis Matkotsky and Casey Brown, that basically serves as a list of her quirkiest personality traits all tied together with a contagious beat.

While the song triggers the lighthearted and fun pieces of a listener’s ear, it actually stems from Bryan’s own personal experiences with finding your true self and figuring out the person you want to be. After undergoing a corrective surgery for scoliosis when she was 16 and changing in both her physical and emotional state, it put Bryan’s outlook on confidence in a new perspective.

“For me, it was the greatest learning process in my life just about who I am and just being ok with changes and being ok with the things that make you different,” she said to SLN. “Having scoliosis was something that made me feel like I was different. Then having to recover from the surgery and dealing with a whole different kind of difference…that’s kinda where that feeling came from for me, so I hope that people who have gone through things like that can relate to the song.”

With another music project in the works, Bryan hopes she can use that true-to-self spirit she tries to include in every song she writes and wants to make sure her stories come to life for her fans in a way that leaves them knowing how real she is as a country music artist and person.

“That’s what I love about songwriting and co-writing is that a bunch of strangers can come into a room who are at entirely different places in life and share their stories and create one story that millions of different people can relate to,” Bryan explained.

Bryan sure knows how to do her, and ‘own it’ all.

Fans can keep up with Bryan through her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Her debut single, “Own It,” will be released for fans to pick up today, September 30, on digital music retailers.