MaRynn Taylor Embraces Vulnerability On Debut Project [Interview]

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MaRynn Taylor’s self-titled debut project, released on Friday (Aug. 22), is built to offer fans an authentic glimpse into her life. Across its 12 tracks, she captures emotions that many listeners know all too well — the trials, heartbreaks and joys of navigating your 20s.

“I wanted to name it MaRynn because it feels like a first name basis kind of album. It shows all the different sides of me,” Taylor tells MusicRow.

This kind of honest artistry is something Taylor says she discovered while on the road with Kelsea Ballerini earlier this year.

MaRynn Taylor performing at Bridgestone Arena during “Kelsea Ballerini: Live On Tour”

“I really found myself on stage and as an artist through that tour. I’m just so thankful for it,” she shares.

That experience also shaped several of the record’s key tracks. “free ain’t free” tackles the personal costs and lasting impact of a challenging situation, making it one of the album’s most vulnerable moments. On the lighter side, “dirty blonde,” which Taylor calls “a very sassy blonde anthem,” showcases her playful, confident side.

Taylor’s storytelling comes through in a range of perspectives on the record. On the standout track “pretty much,” which Taylor wrote alongside Josh Kerr and Dan Wilson, she leans into honesty about the pressures of womanhood. “I was really just feeling the weight of the world and what it puts on women — whether it comes to how we’re acting or how we look — it can all feel really pretty impossible,” she explains. “I went into the write with two guys and basically trauma dumped on them. They are girl dads, so they kind of understood what I was going through in the sense that they don’t want their daughter to grow up in the same mentality. The approach to this song is really special.”

With “she broke up with the boy,” Taylor pays tribute to her love of ’90s country while adding her own spin. A twist on Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With The Boy,” Taylor reworked the iconic song to relate to her story. “I grew up loving ’90s country and I really wanted a song that sounded like that. It’s a celebratory breakup song. Not all breakups are sad, and mine wasn’t,” she says.

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The last track on the record is the only outside cut on MaRynn, written entirely by Anna Vaus. “longer than me” reflects on the kind of legacy Taylor says she hopes to leave in the world. “The goal of my career, and in my life, is I want to be a good person. I want to do this career right, I want to be kind to people, I want to make friends. I just want to be a good person and leave a good legacy.”

As for what she hopes people take from this chapter, her goal is clear. “I just hope they find their story in my story. I write for therapy. I write when I’m going through something and don’t understand it. Somehow writing about it makes me understand. When I’m writing it, I’m writing for myself. When I put it out, I’m putting it out for other people in hopes that it maybe helps them too.”

Taylor, who just wrapped her time as direct support for Jake Scott, will join Chris Young this fall on his “It Must Be Christmas – An Acoustic Evening with Chris Young Tour.”

Lauryn Sink
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