Get to Know: Priscilla Block [Exclusive Interview]

Priscilla Block is an upbeat singer with a colorful vibe who burst onto the country music scene in 2020 thanks to her country heartbreak tune, “Just About Over You,” going viral on TikTok. The attention the initial video received allowed Block to record the song, and upon its release, shot the singer to the top of the Country and All Genre iTunes charts. This success led to a record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville and the release of “Just About Over You” as her very first single. Block has also released the humorous, body-positive song, “Thick Thighs,” and the ultra-relatable “PMS.”

While Block seems to have had a meteoric rise after gaining popularity on TikTok, she’s a singer who knows all too well about the Nashville music industry grind. Block moved from Raleigh, North Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee straight out of high school, working at a yogurt shop during the day and attending school at night all while trying to chase her country music dream. The journey to her dream almost came to an end when she began feeling the frustration of the business and thought about moving home, but an encounter with one of her biggest idols changed all that. Now, seven years after making the move to Nashville, Block has a country single climbing the charts and released her six-song, self-titled EP on April 30th. While songs like “Thick Thighs” and “PMS” (which are not included on the EP) show the funny side of Block, there’s so much more to the singer. Her new project, which she says is “a little sass, a little trash, and a little sad,” shows fans who she really is as an artist and as a person.

Introducing the next artist you have to “Get To Know”: Priscilla Block.

SLN: I know you grew up in a big family in North Carolina, so what was your upbringing like?

PB: I’m one of five kids, so I grew up super close with my family. I hung out with my siblings. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so we would find things to do, like, we would go camping literally every weekend in the summer. And we’d just spend a ton of time on the lake and going to the beach. We were an hour and a half from the beach, so we’d go there and spend a lot of time outside.

What made you start loving country music? Was there a certain artist or song that caused you to fall in love with the genre?

Growing up, I listened to all different types of music, but really, it was Taylor Swift. When I really started getting into my own stuff and when I was able to go buy my own CDs and stuff, it was really when Taylor Swift was exploding. She was kind of what started me wanting to do country music and take this on as my career. I think “Fifteen” sticks out by Taylor Swift. I loved “Austin” by Blake Shelton. I remember thinking, “Holy crap, this song is so clever. You can write songs like that? That’s awesome.”

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When and how did you start singing and was there a certain moment you knew you wanted to pursue music as a career?

I probably started singing when I could talk. Growing up, I used to do talent shows and stuff like that and kind of got dragged around doing whatever and started singing in church with my mom. Then I had a guy back in North Carolina, he was in a band, and he was like, “Hey, if you ever want to hop up and play, you can.” So, I got to play shows with him. I think when it really hit me that I was going to do this and make a career out of it is when I was 15. That’s when I wrote my first song. I was like “Oh my gosh, this is so cool that I can put my feelings into a song and then perform it for people.” There was no better feeling ever than performing a song that I wrote.

How did you decide to move to Nashville and what was that experience like?

There was nothing else that I could even think that I wanted to do. Everyone was like, “Where are you going to college?” Where I grew up, I feel like everybody in my school ended up choosing a college that they were going to go to. Are you going to go to State or are you going to go to Carolina? That was never really on my mind. I’m like, “I know I’m not going to be a doctor or a lawyer.” It was only music that I wanted to do. I was like, “My family’s not going to up and move to Nashville because they’re too big and they’ve got so much going on that I’m just going to do it myself out of high school.” So, when everybody left for college, I left for Nashville. It was very hard. When I moved to Nashville, I literally knew no one. I was just this 18-year-old girl that was so lost, trying to pay my bills. I worked at a yogurt shop 40 hours a week. I didn’t even know how to start. It was tough.

@priscillablock

##duet with @opryofficial still reliving this weekend!!!! ##fyp ##justaboutoveryou

♬ original sound – Grand Ole Opry

I’m sure moving to Nashville and working on your career was hard. Was there a single pivotal moment that made you realize you were on the right path?

I was a year into Nashville, I was working at this yogurt shop from 9 to 5 and I had class from 6 to 9, and it was the day that I was literally having a conversation with my sister that I was going to leave town. That day, Taylor Swift was driving by and I was wearing a Taylor Swift t-shirt. She literally pulled her car over to the side of the road and hopped into her passenger seat, opened up her car door and waved me down. That was truly the day that I decided that I really needed to give music a fair shot and do this thing. From then on, I quit my job and I quit school and I was like, “I’m going to figure out a way to pay my bills. I’ll do whatever.” So, I worked every odd job in Nashville. I started co-writing with people, started learning the town and I would go and sit for hours and watch shows and just see how Nashville worked. I started writing with my friends and slowly but surely started building my group of people out here.

Then TikTok came around, which launched you into viral fame and landed you a record deal. Tell me how that happened and how TikTok changed your life.

I really started diving into TikTok when quarantine started. I thought, truly, that it was this dancing app. So, I’m on there impersonating the Kardashians and learning dances. That is what I thought TikTok was. So, I started posting original music and those videos started doing really, really well. It was interesting because I would post cover videos and then I would post my own videos and my own original music was kind of what was working. I have my first viral video with my song “PMS.” Then I ended up writing “Just About Over You,” and that just took it to the next level. It was crowdfunded by tons of people on TikTok for me to go into the studio and record it, and when we dropped it, it went number one on Country iTunes, All Genre iTunes and that was literally the day that completely changed my life and it landed me a record deal. Now that song is at country radio and just broke the Top 40.

I’m sure that was such an exciting, but overwhelming time for you. What emotions were you feeling during this time?

I think every single emotion. I was crying, I was laughing, I think it’s just an overwhelming feeling. I was scared. I didn’t move out to Nashville being like, “I need to get a record deal or I need to get a publishing deal.” So, at this point, everything that we had created was me and my best friends. I was so scared to make a wrong decision, so that was hard. There were many exciting things, but it was like your baby that you have that you’re about to have somebody else help raise, so that’s a big decision. There were a lot of emotions going about, but I look back at that time and it feels like such a blur.

Now you have released a new, self-titled EP that features “Just About Over You” and five other songs. What does the EP say about you as an artist?

This group of songs, I feel like they’re all very much me. I remember writing the songs, and after, there’s a similar feeling with all the songs, like “Damn, this song was really me.” Obviously, it’s very focused around “Just About Over You.” The whole EP is a story of somebody, me, falling apart to regain my confidence again. It’s trash, it’s sad, it’s sass, it’s all of it. I think that it’s really cool for people to dive in deeper and learn more about me. I’m such a “what you see is what you get” girl. I put everything out there on social media and everyone is like, “Oh my gosh, she’s so funny,” and this, that, and the other, and I am. I like to think I’m the life of the party, but in the EP, you can see, like with “Sad Girls Do Sad Things,” that one is a song that I feel like the world should know about me. I’m not only this happy-go-lucky girl all the time, so it was really important for me to show a super vulnerable side of myself.

I have to ask you about “Just About Over You,” which is the song that really started it all for you. What inspired that tune?

I ran into my ex-boyfriend, and this was [last summer]. The whole story with this song is that the mind is such a powerful thing and you truly can convince yourself of anything. If you convince yourself that you’re pregnant, you’re going to be pregnant. So, this song is kind of the whole idea of convincing yourself that you’re over somebody and you’re not.

The EP is obviously country, but there are other musical influences coming in on songs like “Wish You Were The Whiskey,” “Bad Part of Good” and more. What influenced that?

I love all type of music and this EP, I feel like it does pull country, a little bit rock, maybe a little bit of pop, kind of all of that vein in one. I love heavy guitars and heavy drums, like Jason Aldean type vibes and Luke Combs, and I really wanted to channel that in this EP.

You’re joining what seems to be a really great group of female artists in country music, so what has the camaraderie among artists been like and how has the country music world welcomed you in?

It’s been amazing. Being in the 2021 [CMT] Next Women of Country, that was insane. It’s been really great and I feel the support of tons of women in the industry, and just people lending out their hand and being like, “Hey, if you need anything call me.” Carly Pearce did that. It’s just been really cool to see because I feel like there’s so much talk about how, sometimes, there’s not the support there and I have seen so much of the opposite. I’ve literally gotten tons and tons of support from women in the industry and I’m really thankful for it.

You’ve had so much success already, but you’re still a new artist. What would you tell new fans who are just getting to know you about the kind of artist you are?

I would say I am a little sass, a little trash, and a little sad. I’m the artist and songwriter that writes about my life and puts it all out there, whether it’s something that’s hard to talk about or not. I want people to hear these songs and feel like they’re being heard.