Who Is Erin Kirby? The Story Behind Her Journey to Music

This week our Swag Spotlight artist is a young songstress making waves with her music. Erin Kirby, a seventeen-year-old from Jasper, Georgia is a budding singer-songwriter, whose talent goes far beyond just one genre. We chatted with the artist about her path to music, her new song, and what she hopes her career blossoms into.

The small-town girl grew up always being outside and hanging out with her friends. Despite her self-proclaimed “tom-boy edge,” she became interested in pageants early on which ultimately led her to music. “I jumped into a local pageant,” she began. “I competed in talent and that moment was incredible and I knew that music was what I wanted to do forever.

Kirby had found her passion at just eight years old. Still feeling too young to pursue anything in music professionally, the songstress competed nationally in various pageants. During one of the competitions in Orlando, Florida, she was noticed by a family member of Justin Timberlake’s manager. “[The family member] sent a video of my talent performance to him and he came off tour to come and meet me which kind of gave me the confidence to jump into music.”

Kirby credits her early love for music to her parents for introducing her to a wide variety of genres that she finds inspiration in today. “So I listened to every single genre because my parents loved music so so much. […] I listen to 80s rock bands, I listen to Motown music. I would listen to hip-hop, pop, country, whatever it was, we were always listening to something new.”

The songstress also shared that Atlanta was an important place in her career and music intelligence. “I learned a lot of my writing and studio experience from Atlanta and still keeping the soulful part of my voice,” she adds.

The Turning Point:

Kirby began to record music in Nashville and eventually began writing at age thirteen. “I recorded a couple of songs and kind of just told my story as an artist.” At the same age, the popular talent show, American Idol also reached out to her. Since she was not yet fifteen, Kirby could not participate.

At age fifteen, American Idol called her again. “I really didn’t know if I wanted to or not,” shared the singer. “They wanted me to come to L.A. because they only had two audition spots left.” Eventually, Kirby did fly out to L.A. to audition. She received some incredible feedback from the judges, which added to her confidence as an artist. “I went into the celebrity judge audition and it was incredible. The judges were super kind […] Lionel Richie said he wanted backstage passes for my tour.”

Since American Idol, Kirby has continued to hit the ground running, furthering her artistry and really finding her voice as a singer-songwriter. Although known as a Pop artist, she shared with us a desire to lean a bit more country. “I’ve definitely been writing some music that is a bit more country,” she shared. “Over the course of the pandemic and hanging out with my small-town friends, I’ve turned into this country gal who does music all the time.”

Today:

Most recently Kirby released her song “Waste More Time.” Lyrically, the song has that country music story-telling aspect. The song stemmed from a real-life heartbreak that the singer went through. “Waste More Time was written during FaceTime during the pandemic with a group called Sleeping Lions,” adding later, “We got on the phone and I was like I have this idea because I just went through something with a guy.” The song is inspired by a situation where the guy led her on, something most of us can all relate to.

It is important to the singer that her fans feel what she is going through. “I feel like it’s a song that anyone can relate to. Because even if it’s a friendship that somebody is wanting you to wait on something and you’re just tired of being there for them and they’re never there for you […] I feel like everyone can relate to not wasting time on somebody.”

Besides the enticing single, Kirby promises that she has more music in the works for fans. She will be playing some shows this year, but her primary focus is on continuing to write more and more. Her hope is to release more music at the top of next year with the country genre heavily in mind. Kirby is definitely one to look out for!

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