Country music singer Mickey Guyton admitted that she had crashed and burned as an artist following futile attempts at conformity and encountering so much adversity for years in Nashville. She was ready to say deuces to the industry.
Guyton, 37, said that as the L’s continued to stack up, it became nearly impossible to find the incentive to trudge through unending madness that was dimming her creative light. Most of all, she admits she turned her back on who she was — a Black woman — while trying to assimilate in a notoriously homogeneous and unwelcoming industry and her efforts were met with little success or happiness.
“In 2019, I was ready to stop it all. Really, 100 percent, sometimes on a daily, I was like ‘Why did I choose to do this? Like, this makes no sense.’ I remember crying to my husband, mad at him because he would never let me quit,” Guyton told Yahoo! “And he kept saying ‘Because you need to be here. If you’re not out there, then for every Black girl that wants to sing country music, that dream has gone if you’re not there.’ Then I was like ‘OK, fine.’ And I’m so glad I didn’t stop.”
As a result of her husband’s urgings to continue, Guyton is now experiencing the most successful year of her career after a decade of futility and obscurity in Nashville. Guyton also had an epiphany when she followed the advice of her husband, Grant Savoy, which is to unapologetically be her authentic self.
Now on solid footing, Guyton subsequently composed a batch of bold songs for country music such as “Black Like Me” and “Love My Hair” that has taken her career to another level.
As she prepares to release her debut album, Remember Her Name, on Sept. 24, 2021, she realizes her husband was right. Guyton recently made history as the first Black female artist to receive a Grammys nomination in the country category, the first Black female artist to take the stage at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and the first Black woman to host the ACM Awards ceremony.
Flip the page to read how Guyton said she “ran away” from her Blackness.
