At 17, singer-songwriter RaeLynn landed a spot on the second season of NBC’s The Voice. She was ultimately eliminated, but remained friends with show judge and Platinum country artist Blake Shelton. Accordingly, both the show and her friendship spawned a number of connections, including management. When she recorded her album WildHorse, she was positioned perfectly to play it for Warner Music Nashville label head John Esposito. He connected with it and a deal was soon offered.
After her appearance on The Voice, RaeLynn moved to Nashville, having recently turned 18. She knew virtually no one, but soon made Music City, U.S.A. her home. There she wrote, quickly made friends and was invited to participate in a Warner/Chappell showcase. Things picked up rapidly.
“I’ve known everyone at Warner for a long time,” RaeLynn explains. “I was signed previously at Big Machine Records. After my deal was up with them, I’d loved Espo [John Esposito, Warner Nashville Chairman and CEO and Shelton A&R rep] for a long time and we’d always stayed close because of Blake [Shelton]. I’d already recorded WildHorse, took it into his office and asked what he thought. He fell in love with it and that’s how I got signed. But he’d known me for a while and had seen me perform. [Warner] has always been like a second home to me.”
“He’d known me for a while and had seen me perform.”
Inspired primarily by her parents’ divorce, RaeLynn wrote “Love Triangle” when she was 18. As her debut single, it has gone on to sell more than 100,000 downloads so far. “When I wrote it, I didn’t expect it to be a single,” the singer recalls. “It was something I needed to write for myself. I [now] get healing every time I sing it. Fans have also told me that it’s made them rethink their divorce. That’s what music’s about: healing and changing your thinking.”
WildHorse dropped on March 24 and has been burning up the charts. It peaked recently at No. 1 on iTunes’ Country Albums chart. “Love Triangle” has garnered a reported one million streams per week. The artist is currently on her first headlining club tour
