Ever since she could remember, Kaylin Roberson has lived her life in the in-between. She grew up on the outskirts of big city Raleigh and small-town North Carolina, on the fringes of the middle of somewhere and nowhere all at once. At home in the either-or and the neither-nor, her music has become the same–not pop, not country, but a perfect balance of the two.
The singer/songwriter is a product of the pop radio appetites of her youth and her Southern upbringing, a foundation that has served her well in Music City today. “Over time, I’ve just grown into what country means to me being from a place like Raleigh,” she tells American Songwriter.
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“Growing up in the suburbs, sometimes I’m confused about who I am,” Roberson says, but adds, “I try my best to be honest with who I am and what country means to me.”
As an artist today, the 24-year-old is not peddling a brand of country music that she hasn’t experienced firsthand nor is she pandering to an audience she hasn’t been herself. “I appreciate country because it tells the truth and it speaks a story and it all makes sense chronologically and that speaks to me,” she explains. “I think I fell in love with the live scene so much. … Then as a songwriter, once you get into that mode of writing story songs, which is really what country music is, it’s hard to get out of it.”
Her love of music was sparked early on and it was what got her through recovery from a dog attack at the age of 9. It is a moment in her life that she calls a blessing in disguise. While recouping after intensive facial reconstructive surgery, she turned to covering songs in her bedroom and would soon branch out into songwriting.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” she says. “It really gave me my ‘why’ when it comes to music. I could have taken what I went through and it could have turned into something really negative and really heavy on my life. It could have stopped me from pursuing music or just chasing my dreams in general. Instead, I let music be my outlet through that process.”
By high school, she was touring schools across the country, sharing her inspiring story with students. She was also honing her songcraft in the interim, performing four-song sets at a local bar in Raleigh called Deep South. She had the talent, she had her “why,” she explains she just needed the songs to back it up. Enter Music City. “I moved to Nashville because I don’t want to just be a voice,” she says, adding her desire to create something with meaning.
After four years in Nashville, she has done just that with her single “Die First,” which officially dropped in February after having experienced a viral year on social media.
She explains, in the business of making music in Nashville, everyone wants to know what it is you contribute and what you have to offer. For her, “Die First” is that song.
“In songwriting, there are songs that we write because we have a cool title or because that’s what we do every day, but this was one of those songs that just poured out of me in a way that is unexplainable,” she says of the release. “[‘Die First’] has blessed me in so many ways. Now I feel confident going into a room and being like this is what I can do and this is what I can bring to the table.
“It’s probably the most honest thing that I’ve written,” she adds of the heart-wrenching tune about not being able to live without the one you love. The song is the perfect showcase for her voice, a full, fiery tone—a trademark of the pop stars she once aspired to be—with all the right country elements.
With her music, she pulls from several different styles within the country genre. That will be presented on her forthcoming EP set to arrive later this year. She says the five-song release will, itself, find a home in the in-between.
“I think that someone who’s a fan of Morgan Wallen is going to find a song on my EP that they love and then I think someone that’s a fan of Zach Bryan is going to find a song on my EP that they love,” she says. “But they might not love all of them.” And that’s just fine with her as long as she can make something that someone somewhere can relate to.
“I love taking people on an emotional journey,” she explains. “The EP is going to make you laugh, it’s going to make you cry and get in your feels, it’s going to make you want to go get drunk at a bar. Each song has something different and I’m excited for everyone to hear the different versions that make up who I am.”
Photo by Jenn Davis