On The Row: Avery Anna Taps Into Her Deepest Emotions For Inspiration

/by

Avery Anna. Photo: Ford Fairchild.

Avery Anna taps into her realest emotions when writing, spinning lyric ideas from her journal entries that date back through her childhood.

The singer-songwriter grew up playing sports in Arizona. In order to process the emotions that come with growing up, she turned to journaling, and then to music.

“Whenever something would happen in my life, I would just write about it. I didn’t even know, really, what I was doing,” Anna tells MusicRow. “The first time I ever started journaling, I was eight. When I got baptized at my church, my aunt got me a journal with a bunch of pictures of me on it. She said to write down how I felt so I didn’t forget about it. Ever since then, I’ve always just written it down.

“I would cram in music in any of the free time I had, like late at night and then early in the mornings,” she shares. “I was just doing sports while growing up. Then, when COVID hit, I was able to have the space to really create.”

Anna spent the pandemic season honing her skills, and sharing her songs and more with a growing audience on social media. Her videos of singing covers in her mother’s bathroom garnered lots of industry attention, and caught the eye of Parmalee‘s Matt Thomas.

“All of the stars have really aligned. I’m just so grateful to be here. I don’t even know how this happened to me. It was just so random—they plucked me out of Arizona and now I’m here,” Anna remembers. One of her early tracks to take off online was “Narcissist,” a deeply personal musing that Anna says hit the hardest.

“The whole journaling thing inspires all of my songs,” says Anna. “I could live without releasing them, really. I just wrote [songs] to get it off my chest. In releasing them, I feel like it’s created a space for people to share their stories, which is the goal for songwriting for artists.”

The RIAA Gold-certified “Narcissist,” written with Andy Sheridan, Ben Williams and David Fanning, gained even more traction when Kelly Clarkson covered it on her famed Kelly-oke segment on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

In June 2022, Anna signed with Warner Music Nashville. She released her debut EP, Mood Swings, later that year.

“Self Love,” a ballad co-written with Fanning, Andrew Goldstein, Ava Suppelsa and Zarni de Vette, marked Anna’s first release of 2023. “It’s [about] just being the people pleaser and giving and giving and giving—and then knowing that you need to love yourself and give yourself the time of day,” Anna explains.

Her latest single, “Worst In Me,” released Aug. 4. Co-written with Suppelsa and Danielle Blakey, features Anna diving deep into her emotions in real time. “I feel like I wasn’t really ready to let this person go in my real life. I didn’t want to write about it because that would mean that I had to move on.”

For Anna, the shift to becoming a touring musician was an adjustment, but has also brought a lot of joy. Being on stage keeps her motivated to interact with fans who are eager to hear her and share in her story.

“I was scared that I would hate it because [artists] have to tour, but I love it so much. Music has been such a safe place for me for my whole life. On the other hand, it’s really cool to create a space for other people to be who they are and feel how they feel.”

Online, Anna has racked up over 1.5 million followers and 35 million likes across platforms. She is releasing as many singles as she can for her fans, and is preparing for the release of her album.

Caela Griffin
Latest posts by Caela Griffin (see all)