We had a great conversation with Olivia Evans, daughter of Sara Evans! on The Chris & Sandy Show. We talked about many things from family, music, sacrifices, she performed a song for us, she told some great stories to a whole lot more!
Olivia Evans is a sparkling juxtaposition. She was born country music royalty but learned how to sing, mimicking Beyonce. At 18 years old, the young pop vocalist chirps about rebellion while her platinum-selling mother Sara Evans is her best friend. Olivia’s voice is ethereal yet strong with threads of her Alabama youth. Her production is slick pop helmed by Music City rock demi-god Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae.
She refuses to live in a box.
“I can go from listening to Patsy Cline to Eminem in an hour,” she said. “I’m so open to everything. I hope in my career that I’ll have the space to do whatever whenever I want.”
Olivia’s debut single “Of Course I Do” is a sassy, summer bop with an infectious melody that is more Beyonce than Patsy. Fueled by her first devastating heartbreak, the song is a disobedient admission that she chose the wrong guy. “Of Course I Do” is the first song from her forthcoming pop EP on which she co-wrote every track – about the demise of the same relationship.
The teen met the boy following a year-long break from music. She wasn’t feeling inspired to create and decided she wanted a boyfriend. For a few months, everything was fine – until it wasn’t. “I was like, ‘Okay, you broke my heart. I’m going to get famous. I’m going to write songs about you,'” she said. “A couple of the songs are very direct. One of them literally says, ‘You cheated, and that sucks.’ But I needed this to grow up.”
Olivia was born in Nashville, Tenn., raised in Birmingham, Ala., and spent much of her youth on her mother’s tour bus. While country music was a significant part of her life, Olivia’s discovery of Beyonce inspired her to be a singer. She was 13 years old when she locked herself in her room to practice the pop/R&B icon’s vocal runs — a process that taught her R&B music was her natural wheelhouse.
“I always say Beyonce taught me how to truly, truly sing and perfect my craft,” Olivia said. “That’s the first time I realized this is what I need to do.”
Olivia joined her mother’s band as a background singer two years later, an opportunity she said, “advanced me 15 years in six months.” In 2019, Sara, Olivia, and her brother Avery formed the Barker Family Band, named after the country singer’s husband, Jay Barker. The band released music and played a limited run of shows, which gave Olivia her first turn in the spotlight. The experiment was so successful that Olivia resumed her position as her mother’s background singer to gain more experience.
“That’s the kind of education I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t be able to get,” she explained. “I was brought up really different, and I already was involved in it. People assume that it’s unfair or we haven’t had to work. I need to live up to what people expect from me, and I think that comes with making a really, really killer record. I hope that when people listen to this, they think that I did that.” To round out the EP, Olivia enlisted her mother’s frequent co-writer Shane Stevens and fellow pop artist Grant Landis. The singer committed to being open and transparent during the writing process. Over two weeks, she and her creative team penned 10 songs inspired by the details of her ill-fated relationship. Olivia chose five to record that best told her story.
The other songs include “Guilt,” an observational up-tempo she wrote with Landis about her ex’s detachment. “Level,” a duet she wrote with and features Landis, explores the distance that develops when one person is more in love than the other in a relationship. “Hate You Song,” co-written by Olivia, Stevens and Overstreet, is a catchy, lighthearted anthem about moving on. The trio also co-wrote the EP’s final track “Leave it Behind,” a poignant fragile guidance through the healing process.
“I think it’s a really cool way to show myself,” Olivia said of the EP. “Hopefully, people will react well and see that I’m a legitimate pop artist.”
With the release, Olivia marries her musical pedigree with infectious pop melodies and the universal anguish of a broken teenage heart for a package that’s bound to be the bounce-back soundtrack of the summer.
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