Takin’ A Walk Nashville with Tenille Arts: Her Rise in Country Music and the Power of Female Storytelling

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taken Walk Nashville. Born and raised in a small prairie town in Canada, to Neil Arts picked up the guitar and pinned her first song at age thirteen and has been performing NonStop ever since. She has racked up nearly a billion streams, garnered over seven hundred and fifty thousand digital followers, and her critically acclaimed Love, Heartbreak and Everything in Between album yielded her first number one single, Somebody Like That, which has certified double platinum. This single made history as the first number one country song written, produced, and performed by all females, and was the first country song by a Canadian artist to reach number one in the US since two thousand and seven. Her twenty twenty four fourteen song To Be Honest album leads with the stunning singles So Do I, written by Demi Lovado, Sasha Loan, Laura Velts, and King Henry. In twenty twenty two, Tanil was nominated by the ACM Awards for New Female Artist of the Year, the iHeartRadio Music Awards for Best New Country Artist, and CMT Music Awards for Female video and breakthrough video of the Year. Join me in our conversation today with Taneil Arts as we talk about her new single If Somebody Told Me You Were Dying.

00:01:31
Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts, singer songwriter Sarah.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: Harrelson, tan Neil Arts. Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today.

00:01:41
Speaker 1: How are you doing, I'm good. How are you I'm good? Thank you so much for being here.

00:01:46
Speaker 2: So I'm really excited for your upcoming single that's about to drop, If Somebody Told Me You Were Dying drops April tenth.

00:01:55
Speaker 1: You state that this song came.

00:01:57
Speaker 2: From a late night conversation when you realized you hadn't seen your X in a while, which can be very relatable because you know, many of us carry anger and feelings after a relationship, especially if it didn't end well. And you say that this song kind of sets you at peace by hopefully never seeing them again. So were you kind of in this mindset while writing this song, like.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm okay if I don't, you.

00:02:26
Speaker 2: Know, attend their funeral hypothetically speaking or see them again?

00:02:30
Speaker 1: What was your mindset while writing this?

00:02:33
Speaker 3: I feel like it was a bit of a wave of emotions because like it's always kind of that like jump scare feeling when you're like, well, what is like when somebody asked me, because that's what happened. Somebody asked me like, oh, have you seen them? And I was like no, And I didn't know what they were getting at by saying that either, you know, so then your mind kind of goes to, Okay, what does that mean? And like what are they going to tell me or whatever? And so honestly, I just like had really thought about it in a while, and then that weird thought popped into my head of like if somebody told me that, like if that was what their follow up text was, like oh, you know, something has happened, Like I I really for a second thought like, oh my gosh, Like I wouldn't even I don't think I would even go to the funeral. Like if something, if somebody told me something awful, like I wouldn't even put myself in that situation. I wouldn't even put myself back in there because it was so detrimental to my mental health and my health as a human being that like no, I really wouldn't I wouldn't even want to be in the in that same room. So it was a thought that I thought was maybe a little out there, but I wrote it down anyway, and I ended up having a writing session with Lydia Sutherland and Joe Townge and she actually Lydia had actually like started talking about this other idea of like something else about dying, and I was like, well, I have this other idea, and so we ended up running with with my idea of if somebody told me you were dying.

00:04:11
Speaker 2: And you know, it's such a weird realization to think about that, but so relatable because you know, if you've gotten over someone, you've had your closure, then you don't want to go back to them, no matter what the circumstances. So I think it's very relatable. I love the production of the song. Who did you work with in the studio for this song?

00:04:32
Speaker 3: Todd Tren and Joe townsh did it together, which was really cool because Joe had started a demo the day of and I just loved like everything that he was doing, and I had put down my vocals that day as well, and like the day that we wrote the song, we did a little demo and I ended up keeping like pretty much all of my day of vocals, and so we brought Todd in and he stacked, like helped me stack a bunch of harmonies, and he was just really great at putting this whole thing together. So yeah, it came out very cinematic and dramatic, which was kind of what I was going for.

00:05:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely fits the mood everyone should go check out if somebody told me you were dying. And speaking of other singles, your single somebody like that. It became the first number one country song written, produced, and performed by all females, which I love. How do you feel about carrying that torch and what are your general thoughts on women in country music trying to make it up the charts together? And what was it like working with Alex Klein on the song?

00:05:45
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.

00:05:46
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it was so so cool to have that huge win with an all female team of us all writing it together and Alex producing. That was just really special in something that we didn't we had kind of assumed had already happened to be totally honest, like, we knew that there weren't many females that had topped the charts like recently, but I'd just assumed that, like, you know, a female producer had done that before. And when we found out, I think we were like top twenty and that was actually when like the record was broken or something like that, and so it was just really wild to find out that, you know, we made history with that. But it was really special and obviously I'd love to pass that on to the next all female team for sure. And yeah, Alex was just incredible. I mean, I still love working with her. I'm actually going to write with her this afternoon. We just love working together and she's a huge part of my sound and how my music has evolved over the years.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think a lot of people don't realize. I think, you know, some listeners realize that many of these songs are written by you know, maybe an all female team, but not necessarily a female producer, which can be a rarity and country music at least. So I love that you had an all female team for this, and I think, if I'm correct, it was the first song since two thousand and seven that became a number one for a Canadian female artist, correct.

00:07:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, which, yeah, that was pretty reviled too. I actually got to hang out with it was Terry Clark. She was the last one to have a number one down here until me, which was so weird, but I was yeah, just she was so sweet. She invited Alex and I over to her place and we all hung out and she was like, well, you dethroned me. We had some champagne, but to celebrate just the success, because yeah, Alex and Terry also worked together on some other things, so it was very cool.

00:07:52
Speaker 1: Cool, what a special moment. Yeah, So tell us about what was the start.

00:07:57
Speaker 2: Of your career, like making that transition from Canada down to Nashville to pursue country music.

00:08:04
Speaker 3: Oh wow, I mean it started so young for me. You know, I loved country music growing up. I loved all kind kinds of music though, like I really was into like all pop music and everything like that. But when I found out that people were really writing the songs here in Nashville, that was something that piqued my interest. Around the time I was like thirteen fourteen years old and started actually writing my own songs. You know, I had always made stuff up, but I never actually wrote it down, and so I got really interested in that. And when I found out that, you know, some of these major artists from Canada like Shnaia Twain, you know they yes, they were from Canada and they started up there, but majority of their career was started down here in the United States. That's kind of what I was looking at. I was like, you know, I really want to be everywhere that I can be, and if I can be in Nashville, really feel like I'm going to be.

00:09:01
Speaker 1: Able to just grow.

00:09:03
Speaker 3: And you know, I also had a big fear of just being like, you know, maybe maybe good in a small town, but maybe not anywhere else. And so I really wanted to kind of push myself and get to Nashville. So I think I was fifteen when I made my first trip here, and yeah, I was actually like found on my YouTube channel by a manager and he called my parents and that's how I ended up, you know, coming to Nashville for the first time and co writing for the first time.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: Oh wow, did you move down here with your family or were you kind of separated from your family making the trips.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was kind of making like two week trips as often as I could with my mom, just my mom coming with me because I have three other siblings, so I wasn't about to uproot their lives for my crazy dreams. But yeah, so it was a lot of back and forth until I turned twenty one. I ended up signing a publishing deal, and you know, if you're from Canada, you gotta get visa and do all of that stuff. So that was a whole process to actually be able to get down to Nashville.

00:10:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you still go back to Canada A lot? I do?

00:10:18
Speaker 3: Yeah. Actually, I was talking to my grandma this morning. She was like, when are you coming back? We mee you here, and I'm like, oh, I try to make it back at least twice a year. I usually come home at some point during the summer, Labor Day weekend kind of thing, and then Christmas. But if I ever have shows like close by, I'm always like, okay, we need to at least make a stop.

00:10:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:10:41
Speaker 2: It are so many different country music festivals in Canada, so I'm sure you're up there for gigs a lot.

00:10:47
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of some of your other music, you also recently released the song Don't Ruin Flowers. As you work on recording your next album, what does the next chapter look like for you with a new album.

00:11:04
Speaker 3: Well, I have been writing for it for quite a while, and I feel like the songs have been evolving and changing throughout this entire process, so it's been kind of interesting to nail down exactly what this project is going to be. But it has definitely taken the path of like just kind of exploring but also going back to my roots quite a bit with just how I'm approaching songwriting and everything like that. So this will be a lot more of songs like Don't Room Flowers and if Somebody told Me You Were Dying, and then there was a previous song called Unbecoming, and so it's all of those different things all in one, and as I kind of transition from breakup songs into kind of where I am in my life now, as you can see, there's a smile on my face, so I'm obviously not the breakup phase anymore, and I'm just writing a lot of happy stuff right now. So it's fun to kind of eventually put this together all into an album and people will be able to see exactly what I lived through.

00:12:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I can't wait to hear it.

00:12:12
Speaker 2: And what I've already heard, there's definitely a lot of reflection going on, and I think it's very beautiful and relatable. And I love the music video for Don't Ruin Flowers. You have like all sorts of flowers, and the video looks like you were in like a garden for most of it.

00:12:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, someone that is literally somebody's house. Somebody had a beautiful greenhouse out in their front yard and so we filmed the majority of it there. And yeah, I was so cut up from the roast thorns and stuff like that after video because I was trying to walk through and be all whimsical and meanwhile I'm getting all scraped up. But yeah, it was a beautiful place to shoot and I think it just kind of brought that love of flowers really to life.

00:13:01
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's a moment.

00:13:03
Speaker 2: Even though you said you were getting cut up by thorns, there was a really cool moment in the video where this butterfly lands on your finger. I was like, Oh, that's so perfect that that happened.

00:13:14
Speaker 3: That was wild. I was like, I just tried to stay focused and I was like, I hope the cameras are rolling.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: I just kept going with it.

00:13:21
Speaker 3: I was like, there's no way to recreate.

00:13:22
Speaker 2: That, right, Yeah, such a perfect moment. So Tiniel, I remember like back when I would actually watch The Bachelor. You were asked, you know, three times to perform on the TV show The Bachelor. Do you think when you were asked to perform on it, do you think Bachelor Nation just kind of resonated with your music?

00:13:45
Speaker 3: I honestly think so, which was really interesting to me because even in one of the episodes, I played a song called I Hate This, which is we had filmed a love song and that song because it was my next song that was coming out, and it was so interesting to see, you know, during an episode where these people are supposed to be falling in love, they play this breakup song and Bachelor Nation just attaches themselves to this, and I was like, I think it was just a good look at you know how people watching a TV show like that, like we're all hopeless romantics, you know, we just want that to work, and when it doesn't, you know, we're really heartbroken. And so that I think that's why the song I Hate This really took off and it's still one of my best streaming songs. So I think they they've continued to love my slow, sad songs.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, how did that work out?

00:14:40
Speaker 2: Did you just get like a call like last minute or did you know like pretty advance ahead of time that you were going to be on it?

00:14:48
Speaker 3: Well, I knew that I had kind of made like a list of dream things that I had wanted to do, so I knew that my team was kind of like working on some of those angles and things like that, and so they happened to have a contact and reached out to see if there was an opportunity for me, and they heard the music, and yeah, I ended up on the show. So it was just a very cool way of everything coming together. And then of course you film and then it doesn't come out for months, so it was a very hard secret key, right. Yeah.

00:15:25
Speaker 2: Well, in addition to TV performances, you just recently toured with Luke Bryan and Walker Hayes. Can we look forward to more shows from you this year?

00:15:36
Speaker 3: Yes? I hope so. I mean we're kind of working on some stuff right now, so everybody will have to stay tuned, but yes, I hope so, because I really love getting to perform these songs live and getting to have the real connection. You know, so much of my you know, my song going number one and everything was during a time where we couldn't all be together in the same room, so you know, so I just you know, dying for those opportunities to be in front of people in real life. So hopefully that'll happen soon.

00:16:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, we will stay tuned for that and your upcoming single, upcoming album to Neil, My last question for you today something I always ask my guest. We are on taking a walk in Nashville. So if you could take a walk with anyone in Nashville, where would you take that walk and who would you take that walk with?

00:16:27
Speaker 3: Wait? Are they alive or are they dead?

00:16:28
Speaker 2: It it doesn't matter, they could be either orse so people have said alive or dead people.

00:16:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't really know. I would probably say someone like Patsy Kline. I would probably want to take a walk with her. And because I'm fascinated by how secretive some people's lives were back then versus how they are now, I would love to ask some questions about like just being a female singer back then.

00:17:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, get all the tea from Patsy.

00:17:05
Speaker 3: Yep, they'd love it.

00:17:07
Speaker 1: Do you know where in Nashville you would take that walk?

00:17:10
Speaker 3: Oh? I don't know. I mean, there's so many stories up and down music row. I would probably just go for a walk and just see what comes out.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's always the popular answer. I would love to see what Patsy thinks of you know, me thrown now too.

00:17:26
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I know, I can't even imagine. I need to go, like look up some photos of what it would have looked like back then. Now I'm curious, I know.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, she would probably have a hay day now.

00:17:37
Speaker 2: Well to Neil, thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today. Everyone can go check out your new single if Somebody told me you were dying, and we are looking forward to all of your upcoming music.

00:17:50
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

00:17:50
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: Please check out our other shows produced by a buzz Night Meet Productions Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Take It a Walk hosted by Yours Truly buzz Night. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are part of the iHeart podcast Network