Tanner Adell is in good spirits. Days after a star-studded weekend in Hollywood, where the pop country singer performed her breakout hit “Buckle Bunny” at the GLAAD Awards and presented Megan Moroney with the Rulebreaker Award at Billboard Women in Music, the 24 year old is taking it day by day. In the midst of this, she released “Going Blonde”, the lead single from her forthcoming debut album. The song, an intimate look into the singer’s relationship with her biological mother, invites listeners to the complexities and nuances of Adell’s life as an adoptee.
Although the song is new to us, Adell wrote the song, four years ago, with no intentions of releasing it. The song’s initial purpose was to be a source of healing for the singer, who had begun a search for her birth mother. Along the way, she connected with her biological brother, who similar to Adell, was in search of his family members.When the two connected, to Adell’s surprise, the story she had been told about her birth, that she was conceived via an extramarital affair, was a lie. Adell and her brother have the same birth mother and same birth father. The mother “mistakenly assumed” Adell was the byproduct of an affair, which resulted in the singer being put up for adoption, at a young age.
Unfortunately, Adell never had the chance to meet her birth mother, as she had died a few years prior. However, her brother gifted Adell a picture of her. What struck out the most was her mother’s blonde hair and striking resemblance to Dolly Parton. All of these influences, plus Adell’s love of Parton’s song “Dumb Blonde”, combined with the singer’s natural blonde hair, influenced the writing process of “Going Blonde”.
“ I feel like the adoption conversation is not like a common conversation. It’s not something that is really touched on often,” she says. “ I haven’t heard many people with platforms, use their platform to talk about foster and adoption. “This is one of the deepest parts of me. I’ve given a lot to my fans, but it felt like there was such a big part of who I am that they didn’t know yet. I wanted them to know who I am inside and out and raise questions and conversations around adoption and foster care.”
Tanner fans, affectionately referred to as Buckle Bunnies, played a part in the song’s release. Over the last four years, Adell would sparingly play “Going Blonde” at shows, and after each performance, a fan, moved by the song’s messaging and themes, would find Adell to share their story.
After the fourth time of a positive fan interaction, Adell began to consider making the song available to the public. “There might be a lot of people out there that could really benefit. Not just kids, adults that have grown up in foster care or been adopted. There’s a lot of family members, aunts, uncles, parents of adopted children.”She credits the song for being one of the few mediums to tell the story of adoption from the perspective of an adopted child. The singer acknowledges that there is no rule book on how to be an adoptive parent or to be an adopted child, but she hopes through sharing her story, dialogue around those experiences will unfold.
Vulnerability is synonymous with Tanner Adell. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and her emotionality is felt within each and every song. Now, with more eyes on her than before, she’s ready for her debut album. “I feel like I am stepping into my womanhood. I grew a lot during this album. There’s a lot of healing and growth. I’m stepping into my power as a woman.” Womanhood is the underlying theme for the debut album. Along with heartback, but in the traditional sense of a romantic relationship, but in the missing of places that shaped her, says Adell.
Throughout the album making process, Adell has looked towards the discographies of her favorite artists for insight. Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, and of course, Beyoncé. “I’ve never compiled an album before,” she says, before explaining her decision behind the discography process. “Who are the people who have broken records? What did they do? How did they get their start?”
She looked towards Taylor Swift as an example of storytelling, since she originally started in country music. She credits Dangerously in Love as an example of artistic experimentation. In addition to a few country music artists and pop groups from the 1990s, such as Destiny’s Child.
It is only natural that Beyoncé would serve as a role model for success, since Adell was a featured collaborator on Cowboy Carter, the singer’s seventh solo album, which garnered the prestigious award for Album of The Year at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. The one year anniversary of the album’s release, fell on the date of Billboard Women in Music Awards, where Adell commemorated the date among various women in the industry, such as Doechii.
“Being a woman is so hard these days, especially a woman in country music, and then on top of that, a woman of color in country music,” she says. “I got to celebrate one year of Cowboy Carter surrounded by women in the industry that uplift and support each other. That’s more than I could have asked for.” The day before, Cynthia Erivo personally congratulated Adell at the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. She described their moment as the best night ever.
At the precipice of a new chapter in her career, Adell is loving every minute of it. She is in preparation for a touring season. She is putting the finishing touches on her debut album. And she is in love with her Buckle Bunnies, the first generation, and the second generation, that found her from Cowboy Carter. “I’ll show up a hundred percent for them. I know they’ll show up a hundred percent for me. That’s the relationship we have.” Her new reality has led to some of her wildest dreaming becoming true, and, it’s only the beginning.
