While Nashville singer/songwriter Taylor Bickett may not exactly be an everyday marquee name just yet, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard Zoomer anthem “QUARTER LIFE CRISIS,” which dropped in 2022 and quickly went viral, inspiring nearly half a million fan-made videos on TikTok, in addition to more than 35 million streams. “It was crazy. It definitely did not feel real! Even the other day I had someone come up to me and be like, ‘OMG, QUARTER LIFE CRISIS? That’s your song? I made a video for that song!’” Bickett tells me of her experience “going viral” during a recent phone chat, before going on to admit that she’s more than happy for the support: “I did make so many fans that way, and I was doing everything DIY and by myself at that point, so it was really affirming after spending all that time making things online [laughs].”
I first encountered Taylor Bickett last year at City Winery, when she was touring between EP #1 and EP #2 (2023’s grown up and lonely and 2024’s This Isn’t Me Missing You) and handling support duties for Ron Pope’s A Drop in the Ocean Tour, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Americana artist’s debut solo LP, Daylight, and 2008 breakout hit, the tour’s titular track. During a pre-show chat, the headliner and fellow Nashville musician told me he had recently gone from being a huge fan of Bickett’s to “real-life buds,” admitting, “I cannot express how impressed I am with her… I’m looking forward to, in a few months when she’s much bigger, getting the chance to open for her!”
The relationship between Ron and Taylor dates back to well before their real-life friendship, which includes a collaboration on “I’m Not The Devil,” a track off of Pope’s 2025 LP, American Man, American Music. During Ron and I’s February 2024 chat, he tells me that “A Drop in the Ocean” was apparently the first song Bickett learned on guitar, which she confirms, before going on to say that that experience on the road proved to be a significant milestone for her: “One of the biggest highlights [of my career] was opening for Ron Pope. I’d been a fan of his for so long… It was my first real tour, and we were on a bus, and I had him guiding me through that experience.”
Last September, Taylor Bickett found herself back in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection when she opened for pop singer/songwriter/producer BLÜ EYES at The Foundry at The Fillmore, a room she’ll be returning to next Saturday, August 9th, supporting alt-pop sensation Charlotte Lawrence on the Somewhere Tour. Bickett joins the jaunt on August 4th, and she tells me she’s quite excited about it: “I’ve known of her a long time and admired her, but I just found out about her new album when I was offered this tour, and I listened to it, and I’m obsessed… I think that Charlotte’s music is sort of more similar to my music [than Ron’s], and I could see there being more people knowing both of our music.” However, she says the live show will likely be along the lines of her City Winery gig: “It’s a stripped tour, so I’m gonna be playing acoustic. The show will probably be similar to the Ron Pope show, in that way.”
This March, Taylor Bickett partnered with The Circle — Annie Lennox’s global feminism organization that works to prevent violence against women – in conjunction with the release of her latest single, “The Crime,” a ten-ton-truck of a ballad about systemic violence against women, inspired by a horrific assault Bickett experienced during an encounter with an unknown male while walking home in 2023 (She very poignantly recounted the experience for Atwood Magazine in honor of Women’s History Month.) Filmmaker Meg Darbourne directed an accompanying music video, featuring an all-female cast and crew, further illustrating the anxiety that women feel on a daily basis simply navigating the Earth. Additionally, $1 from every ticket sold on Bickett’s solo acoustic tour went to supporting The Circle through Plus One.
“It can be cool and really difficult to hear people’s stories,” Bickett tells me of the reactions she’s gotten to “The Crime,” which has inspired many women to finally share their experiences in abusive relationships and having done whatever it took to get out of them. Taylor tells me that getting to know her fans is really meaningful, even when it’s not bonding over trauma: “I love to get to meet people after [shows]… The great thing about the shows that I play is that I get to talk to almost every single person after the show, and just to get to chat and connect is my favorite part.” I ask if she’s noticed patterns in her biggest fans, and she admits, “I am definitely popular with people around my age, and I think 95% of my listener base is women.” She goes on to say that she’s noticed a lot of her listeners are people like her, who deal with, “perfectionism, overachieving, and being Type A [laughs].”
Bickett admits that her mini tour gave her a taste for headlining: “I did my first little headlining tour recently, with five shows, but I was like, ‘OMG, when can I do 20?!?!?!’” She also tells me that she even has the material for it (In fact, she says that she’d play all new songs on her run with Charlotte Lawrence, if she didn’t suspect it would get her in trouble with management.): “I have an album coming out and I’m recording the whole thing in like a month, right after the tour. I already recorded bits and pieces, but we’re really gonna hunker down.” “It’s been so cool to get to craft a project and have through lines in the narrative,” she tells me of making a full-length, going on to say that it’s even changed the way she listens to music: “I love listening to albums, and it’s made me appreciate albums so much more!” And she tells me that longtime fans should probably expect something a little bit different from “QUARTER LIFE CRISIS”: “I think the sound is shifting a little bit more into acoustic songs and traditional instruments, leaning into indie folk and away from that more traditional pop sound.”
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