In life, art, and love, Erin Gibney is learning who she is and what she wants, and that she won’t settle for anything less. Recent experiences — her first big breakup, forging deeper connections with her fans through social media, watching artists she admires release exceptionally personal albums — have left her emboldened to share her truths as she creates new music and “unapologetically continues to explore within her sound” (Today’s Country).

“I feel like I’m stepping into this brand-new version of myself,” Gibney says, reflecting on the music she’s preparing to release in 2023. “I feel like, for so much of my life, I had a lot of these people-pleasing tendencies and I would go with the flow with a lot of things, buy this summer was a huge transition for me, stepping into my own and being like, ‘This is what I want and I’m not sorry about it.’”

With her new songs, produced by Paul Ebersold (Morgan Wade), Gibney worked through “genuine heartbreak and the pain, the anger, the hurt that goes along with that” after the end of a five-year relationship. “It’s really the first time in my adult life that I’ve dealt with that,” she explains, noting that while her country-pop sound and “warm hug” (Amplify Music Magazine) of a voice remain, Ebersold helped her add a new edge that complements the topic.

“As an artist, I thought I’d always have to put on a show, but I’ve really been surrounded by people who have encouraged my authenticity,” says Gibney, who co-wrote all her new material. “Though this music is edgier than what I have put out, it’s honest for what I’m going through.”

On social media, too, Gibney has been encouraged to share more of her authentic self — and has been rewarded for it. On TikTok in particular, where she has more than 136,000 followers and posts that have garnered millions of views and more than six million likes, she gives fans a peek into the non-music sides of her world. As it turns out, some of her hobbies — baking and cooking, crafting and sewing, and restoring old furniture — are her fans’ hobbies, too, and bonding with them over those shared interests has, in turn, enhanced their connection with her music.

“It’s funny — when I started TikTok, I really had this idea in my brain that I had to put on this ‘cool girl’ face and had to look like this polished version of myself, and I got absolutely nowhere doing it,” Gibney says, chuckling. “I’m as basic as they come, and I used to be really embarrassed about that, and when I started to open up about that, I found that people were really responsive. It built a lot of confidence in me in just owning that: ‘Okay, this is who I am, and that doesn’t have to be embarrassing.’”

To further deepen her bond with her fans, Gibney has been building playlists based around relationship themes. On Spotify, those playlists have racked up more than 55,000 followers each and 320,000 followers combined. Fans can also hear Gibney’s playlists on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and YouTube.

“Growing up, playlists were my thing; I had a playlist for every single mood, every experience, and they always were really, really close to my heart, and now I get to do it and people like it and they interact with it,” Gibney explains. In a particularly full-circle moment, Gibney’s own music has appeared on playlists curated by Apple Music (New in Country) and Spotify (Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds Country, Young Nashville, New Music Friday Country).

 Originally from Southington, Conn., Gibney moved to Nashville in 2017, to study music business, with an emphasis on music production, at Belmont University. She released several singles and an EP while still in college, then, in 2021 and 2022, four ante-upping singles produced by Marshall Altman (Amy Grant, Josh Abbott Band): the ever-hopeful “That’s What I’m Looking For” (Taylor Acorn, Kyle Fishman, and Justin Wilson); the solo-written “Easy Like That;” the wistful and wishful “Single at the Same Time” (Lauren Alaina, Hannah Ellis, and Josh Kerr); and Gibney’s personal favorite, “Naïve” (Kelsea Ballerini, Jennifer Denmark, Nicolle Galyon, and Jimmy Robbins).

“My past songs were a little more whimsical,” Gibney notes. “I had this really romantic view on life, and, right now, I don’t have that view, and I think that’s okay. I think it just shows the ebb and flow of life.”

Gibney has, as a fan herself, watched that ebb and flow play out in the careers of her musical role models: Kelsea Ballerini and Taylor Swift. Their unflinching honesty — and their success because of it — is a source of strength for Gibney as she prepares to bare another piece of her soul to the world.

“It’s honestly a little bit scary because I don’t think I’ve ever been this honest in my music before. I don’t think that I’ve ever said words like this out loud,” Gibney admits of sharing her new music, “and so [Kelsea and Taylor] are such pinnacles for me. They give women like me that courage to be like, ‘Okay, I am going to be as honest as possible, and it is going to be scary but it’s a reflection of my life experience.’

“I think it’s important to be that honest in your music,” Gibney adds. “It’s scary, but it’s important.”