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 in the past year, I have refined myself as a person and as an artist,” muses Gibney. “I have grown to really like who I am, and I am no longer scared to share all the good and bad with my fans. I don’t feel as hesitant to talk about my experiences, whether that be with dating, friends, or life in general. It feels like I am now confidently putting music into the world that is a true reflection of me.”

Gibney has several new singles ready to share with those fans. In 2025, she will release “not something i’ve told my friends” (produced by Paul Ebersold and co-written with Landon Austin), and then a pair of songs she worked on with Cameron McClaren in the production seat will be released: “Leave the Pieces” (a cover of The Wreckers’ song and a longtime Gibney favorite) and “wasted potential” (co-written with Alex Angelo).

“It was amazing to work with Cam and Paul on these tracks,” Gibney recalls. “These songs are deeply personal to me and touch on some really difficult times in my life. It was reassuring to feel like they were handling these songs with care and bringing as much effort and attention to them as I needed.” By peeling back the layers and exposing her most personal and private thoughts and feelings, it’s inevitable that the songs mean even more. “These next songs I’m releasing are some of my favorites in my entire catalog,” Gibney explains. “I feel proud of the way they are written and the stories I am telling. It feels like every time I walk into the writing room, I am becoming more and more vulnerable with what I have to say. These songs are showing a piece of myself and my heart to the world.”

Gibney previously worked with producer Paul Ebersold (Morgan Wade) on her 2023 singles (“Exit Signs,” “Talk Me Out of Him,” and “You Made Your Bed”), as she found her way through “genuine heartbreak and the pain, the anger, the hurt that goes along with that” after the end of a five-year relationship. “It was really the first time in my adult life that I dealt with that,” she explains, noting that while her country-pop sound and “warm hug” (Amplify Music Magazine) of a voice remain, working with Ebersold helped her add a new edge to her music.

After kicking off 2024 in a more musically stripped-down fashion with the release of “Exit Signs (Acoustic),” which was co-written with and featured “American Idol” winner Kris Allen, she again joined forces with Ebersold for the 2024 single, “Kryptonite” (a co-write with award-winning artist and songwriter Nell Maynard). The song premiered at Holler, who wrote of it, “Following on from a string of near perfect pop country singles last year... ‘Kryptonite’ further showcases the unflinching honesty and intimacy Gibney has found in the last 18 months.” 

She also previously worked with McClaren on the 2024 single, “by june.” V13, who premiered the song, called it her “most confessional single, which is saying a lot considering the fact that she’s never been afraid of hiding her feelings as a songwriter... authenticity is the common ingredient that is threaded throughout her music. It’s what makes Gibney such a compelling artist and one that is easy to like. Her music is very relatable because it speaks of real experiences and having courage in the face of adversity.”

“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. “All of my recent and upcoming releases are honest for me and what I’m going through or experiencing.”

On social media, too, Gibney has been encouraged to share more of her authentic self — and has been rewarded for it. On Instagram, her followers number more than 155,000. On TikTok, where she has close to 200,000 followers and her posts have garnered millions of views and almost 18 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.’” Clearly being herself is working. “This summer I had my first video hit 20 million views, and I had a video hit one million likes,” Gibney shares.

To further deepen her bond with her fans, Gibney built 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).

Gibney has also relished the times spent collaborating, be it co-writes on songs she released or working with other artists in the studio. She recorded a single with labelmates Midnight South (a country band from Arkansas) entitled “Piece of Me,” which was released in September 2024. In other collaborations, Gibney was featured on “Strong One” by Houston-based artist Norman North, whose music merges his hip-hop writing and style with traditional country production with live instrumentation. The song was released in November 2023 and appeared on North’s album, Place I Don’t Belong.

Gibney has always enjoyed playing live, but she was especially thrilled to hit the road on her first headlining tour in 2024, which included stops in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Nashville, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, and Columbia. Today’s Country Magazine called her live performance “a vocal clinic,” and that she “exuded a vibe that’s confident, driven, and determined.”

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.’ It’s scary, but it’s important. And, looking back on the past few years, it feels so apparent to me the ways I have grown as a person and as an artist. Now more than ever, I feel confident in sharing who I am with my fans in both my music and online. I am no longer scared of talking about the details of my heartbreaks and triumphs. It feels like my music is more vulnerable and my online presence is more honest and true to me.”