Abigail Virginia is an Alabama girl living in Tennessee tackling the pop/soul industry. Her deep, soulful voice is distinctive and compelling, carrying the beautifully intimate lyrics that Virginia is putting out into the world.
Aligning our time zones, Abigail Virginia joined me for a Zoom call from Nashville to talk all about her experiences in the music industry, the journey to discovering her voice and how she protects herself when being so vulnerable in her writing.
Virginia’s new song, ‘Some People Don’t Love’, released in April this year, explores the deep cutting sadness of an unrequited love. Her eloquent lyrics are elevated by the power in her voice, creating a strong connection between the listener and the song.
“It’s really cool to have something that means so much to me,” she says about releasing her new song, “and people who really connect with the song, just seeing them, you know…you’re like, ‘oh my gosh, we went through the same thing’ and it’s really cool to have those moments.”
Virginia has been giving sneak peaks of her unreleased music through her social media, each time unveiling more poignant and powerful lyrics. I referenced the most recent one on her Instagram: “I’m so glad that you said that about the song because I’m like in love with it. I wrote it last night. I was literally up ‘til 2am.”
I was keen to know where these beautiful lyrics came from and what her writing process was like. “I’m very much a heavy hand in the writing. A lot of it is me but it’s different every time – it might be me and one person, it might be me - I started with the idea and I come in to just producers, it might mainly be me but they’re kind of helping or somebody in a Writing Room takes the heavy hand and I do more melody than lyrics so... it’s different every time but I would say I’m still very involved in the process…whatever I release, I want it to be real and something I’ve really experienced.”
With Virginia putting out so much of her personal emotional and lived experiences into her music and into the hands of strangers, we talked about how she protects herself from so much vulnerability. “I’m a very open book anyway,” she shares, “which is great but also to my own downfall, you know, I expect everybody to be like that and not everybody is.” She talks about how she navigates her own pain – the subject of her recent music – and the conflict of not wanting the person who’s hurt her to hurt either. “It’s how I grieve; it’s how I process. Writing is therapy for me, and I’ve had to come to terms and be real with myself. That helps me heal and, in turn, I know that will help other people heal.”
Virginia’s voice is steeped in soul and has such a uniquely deep sound. It’s not always been easy for her to join in and sing with other people, but there was one artist she could sing along to. “One of the first artists I was able to even remotely sing along with was Adele,” she says, “and she just had this deep round tone and I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, this is what I want to do’.” Virginia’s excitement coupled with her Alabama drawl brings out an endearing familiarity that immediately puts you in her corner.
“But now that I’ve been in Nashville and I’ve done a lot of recording studios and I’ve met vocal teachers – they’ve kind of helped refine what I already had and are making it better. I’ve always had this deep, unique voice but now my journey is just trying to make that better – increasing my range and articulating better.”
A recent social media post showed Virginia with a vocal coach, helping her to reach those higher notes. “I’ve been able to hit notes, but didn’t know how I did it. I could do it once and then I was like, I can’t do it again,” she says as she talks about her song, ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and how she hits a ‘crazy’ note but had no method or process to get there.
“I did that vocal lesson with Brent Manning and he’s become a great friend of mine. In that one lesson he’s like, 'I’ll show you how to access that in your mix and in a healthy way'. He recorded it – that whole thing was not set up.”
Virginia’s rise to fame started on her recent appearance of American TV show, ‘I Can See Your Voice’ where she appeared as the cutesy ‘sorority sister’ that belted out the most powerful songs. It’s a common misconception that appearing on a TV show like that is a quick ticket to success, but Virginia expanded on how that is simply not the case.
“I was so excited when the show was going to air because I had been doing a lot of work and having a lot of things ready to release once it hit.” Virginia notes the songs that she released to maximise and utilise the airtime, including covers and original music.
“People think you get on air and that’s it, you’re going to be famous. No, that’s when you need to run so hard because if you don’t, you’ll miss your opportunity. I actually have a day job working 9-5 and so the process has been, in a way, tiring having to do both. But I’ve loved it though. I’ve enjoyed every second and it’s awesome but a lot of pressure.”
Born in raised in Alabama and now living in Nashville, I had to ask about how she’s not singing country songs and if she has to fight for opportunities and exposure in a market saturated with a specific genre. “I used to sing country music when I was really young and my dad would always listen to, like, George Strait and Rascal Flatts, but then I heard Adele and knew that’s what I wanted to do – to do whatever this is in my own way.”
Virginia talks of how she fell out of touch with country music and wasn’t an active listener throughout her teenage years and early twenties until recently. “Don’t come for me,” she laughs, “because a lot of my friends are country music singers and they’re amazing but…I don’t know…I just always enjoyed more of the pop soul side more – I felt like I related more to that than country music.”
“I’d say there’s room for everybody,” she goes on to say about finding her place in Nashville, “it’s such a community driven place, it feels like family – you’re here for a week and every day you make a friend. I would say in the pop space, there is pop here and stuff…collaboration wise, I wouldn’t say it’s harder, there’s still a ton of people to collaborate with because this is Music City – you should be here to write music.”
With hopes to release music every couple of months, Virginia is focussing her energy on playing around Nashville. “Eventually, I’d love to start playing out but I’m still kind of like a one man show so, you know, navigating all that but as of right now, it’s a lot of writing and people can expect some new music.”
Stay up to date with Abigail Virginia on Instagram and TikTok and stream her new song, 'People Don't Leave' now.
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