Robby Klein
Tiera Kennedy has gone from one to watch to the type of artist you can’t take your eyes off of.
The singer/songwriter first made a splash on the scene with her self-titled debut EP in 2021. Tour stops with the likes of Kelsea Ballerini followed, helping Kennedy to build a fanbase that shows up and shows out at her concerts, belting every word to her songs. She’s such a country music tastemaker that Apple Music even tapped her to host her own radio show, The Tiera Show, in 2022.
Now, as she readies her first full-length album, she’s primed for even more career milestones. With her recently released song, “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist,” which will anchor her forthcoming full-length album, her star continues to rise. Written alongside Emily Falvey, Joe Fox, Trannie Anderson, and Emily Landis, the country bop calls upon the three most important people in a girl’s life with an infectious hook and a bound-for-the-country-history- books premise. It’s another step toward superstardom for this stunning songstress.
We sat down with Kennedy to talk all about her country music rise to greatness and the beauty tips and tricks that she swears by behind-the-scenes.
Nashville Lifestyles: Tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to Nashville.
Tiera Kennedy: I'm from Birmingham and I grew up singing country music around town. I would sing literally wherever I could. I'd play restaurants—Chick-fil-A, Buffalo Wild Wings, literally wherever they would, they would take me. I really got to hone in on my craft living in Birmingham, and then I convinced my parents to make the move to Nashville about six years ago. I would study the songwriters and the artists here in town, and it's just where I always wanted to be. When I got here, I hit the ground running. I had a show the night we moved here. I didn't even help move in! It felt like home before I even moved here, honestly, because I was so obsessed with everything Nashville. Now I feel like I've really grown an awesome community around me and I'm very grateful.
NL: How did you establish yourself as an artist and a writer in Music City?
TK: When I moved here, I wrote with anybody that I could, trying to figure out what my sound was and what I wanted to say—how to tell my story. I feel like I was able to do that through the writers that I surrounded myself with and over these past couple of years, I found people that really understand me. I think when I get onstage and I sing these songs, I feel like I can connect to them so much more and the audience can connect to it more because telling my story. There are songs that I've been singing for so long and I feel like the fans don't let me get tired of them. They’ll sing along or tell me their stories. Sometimes it's completely different than the reason I wrote the song, and that’s the best part—seeing how people connect to my songs and how they see their stories in them.
NL: Tell us a little bit about your latest single, “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist.”
TK: [Co-writer] Emily Landis had this title “My Therapist” and I thought that was amazing. It was the last song we wrote on a retreat. It's about growing up in a small town and not being able to really keep anything to yourself. Everybody is all up in your business. We had a couple White Claws and had so much fun [writing it] and I feel like that really comes out in the song. It's different than anything I've put out. It's kind of a throwback to the ’90s/’00s country that I loved listening to. From the moment we wrote it, I was like, “This is going to be an awesome song. I can see myself playing this and people singing along.” The first time I played it and people actually were singing along, I was like, “Yes! This is great!”
NL: What beauty secrets are you willing to share with us?
TK: When it comes to outside beauty, I wore a lot of makeup and I was very into that in the beginning [of my career]. Over the pandemic, I think a lot of us kind of toned it back. I became obsessed with skincare. It is my me time. It is my mental health time to just give myself a moment by myself. I became obsessed with the more minimal look. I love Rare Beauty. I feel like just a little bit of that on face makes a big difference—just a couple dabs of concealer, blush, and I'm ready to go. I’ve also gotten into Korean skincare, which is all the rage right now. I’m falling in love with that.
NL: What would surprise people about you?
TK: I'm so boring. I'm always just on the go working on music, so when I get home, I love working on our lawn. Pulling weeds is my favorite thing ever. I have a cleaning obsession, so literally every day I'm cleaning the inside of the house and then I'm outside working on our lawn.
Special thanks to Grogan Jewelers by Lon for bringing some extra sparkle to our shoot!
Tiera is wearing: Shy Creation 14 karat white gold 4.65 carat diamond multi row choker necklace; 18 karat white gold 3.52 carat Radiant Cut Diamond eternity band