With over 19 million followers, Tayler Holder is the most-followed country artist on TikTok. Transitioning from a social media sensation to a country singer, Holder continues to prove he’s where he needs to be with each new release.
His latest single, “Dyin’ Flame” guides listeners through the challenges of a fading relationship, blending country storytelling with a touch of pop influence.
Co-written by Holder with Beau Bailey, Graham Barham and Dallas Wilson, this emotional has already raked in over 3.3 million streams on Spotify alone and is one of his most-streamed songs to date.
Holder is taking his music on the road this year with his headlining ‘Nashville Hits the Roof” tour, visiting Tin Roof locations all around the country.
Recently, Holder took a break from the 18-city trek to take part in Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar where he sat down to chat with Country Now about the tour, his friendship with Chase Matthew, finding a mentor in Jelly Roll, new music and more.
You are currently on your first ever headline tour, how does it feel?
Yes. I felt great. I was nervous. I’m always like, ‘what if no one shows up?’ You know what I mean? But it’s been crazy. We’re doing the Tin Roof tour and we’ve heard lots of great things, lots of horrible things about it too. And so I was going in with mixed emotions, but every single room has been packed and they’ve been screaming the song, so it’s been awesome.
You’re also playing dates in the UK with Chase Matthew, how did that come about? Are you friends? I know you’ve played some shows together before.
Yeah. He’s been a buddy of mine for the last two years since I’ve been here. I met him pretty early on when I moved here, and then we were already doing “Sea to Sea” over there, and then we saw Chase had a couple of shows with no opener… so we were like ‘hey!’ I just shot him a text. I was like, ‘yo, dude, I don’t know if you got anybody, but I’d love to come hop on.’ And so we put our agents in contact and we made it happen. So it’s sick.
What are you looking forward to most about playing overseas?
I’ve just never been over there at all, so I’m excited to just go see what it looks like over there. But also, I’ve always had a bunch of fans out there that have always said, ‘come to the UK, come whatever, come tour out here.’ And so I’m just excited to just go meet people.
Did you ever think that you’d be playing country music internationally?
I did not at all. If you would’ve asked me two years ago before I came here, no, not at all. I mean, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but I just never thought it was really possible. Honestly.
You got your start on TikTok. How do you feel about the TikTok platform and what was the transition like going to country music?
I think, yeah, I did get my start on TikTok mainly, but I think the transition has been a little tough because I blew up from not doing music, let alone country music, and I was just another one of the dancing TikTok kids. And the conversion over has been a little tough because like I said, it’s a whole new thing. It’s starting from ground zero again, and it’s like everything but what they followed me for, it’s been tough because everyone definitely thinks I’m just some LA kid that moved over here to do it. But I’m just a small town Texas kid.
I’m from a small town called Alvarado, Texas, just south of Dallas. But we got like 2,500 people in our town. And I don’t know, it’s been tough at first, but as we’ve been out here for a little bit longer, we’re slowly starting to turn heads. We’re packing out rooms, we’re doing it man. We’re doing the reps. So I’m just excited. At the end of the day, the music will speak for itself and they’ll start seeing it eventually.
Did you or do you ever feel pressure to prove yourself because you got your start on TikTok?
I did for a while. I think just because of that thing where everyone has a voice and everyone has an opinion online. So definitely, I think anyone would be lying if they said it didn’t get to them, you know? But at the end of the day, we got a bunch of people that I’ve never met in my life that have never spent a moment with me that are trying to put opinions on my life. It’s like who’s a real loser at that point? You know what I mean? So I just don’t even care anymore. I just do what I know. It makes me happy and I just rock with it.
Is there an artist that you feel has been a mentor to you? If so, in what ways and what’s the best advice you’ve received?
Definitely. I would say probably one of the best mentors that I’ve had is Jelly Roll. Jelly’s been like an older brother to me. He’s given me so much advice. Like that’s kind of the strategy I’m going with my music this year, is I’ve released a lot of music about, I’ve never drank alcohol in my life, but I sing about drinking or whatever. It’s just not the most authentic me that I could be, and I want to really pivot towards the most authentic version of myself and just with him telling me ‘real music for real people,’ that’s what we’re trying to do. And he’s just been such an older figure to me that’s been calling me and really guiding me and helping me in a lot of ways. And same with Kane Brown and stuff like that. But we’ve had some good help out here so far.
And then, also Dylan Scott. Dylan Scott was someone that I owe a lot to because whenever I moved here and I first got that tour, I was only here for four months, I think, or six months whenever we first booked it. And I feel like there’s always a stigma around TikTokers doing music or whatever. And at first until you prove yourself, and he put his arm around me and brought me on the road with him whenever literally no one gave a f*** at all. So that was really cool.
What’s the story behind your latest release, “Dyin’ Flame?”
So I went in there, I was going through kind of this, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in one of them you guys kind of know you’re wrong for each other, but like you guys are just super connected and tied in. So it’s like no matter what, you know you’re probably not supposed to go over that night, but you’re going to do it anyways because you guys love each other, whatever. It’s kind of about that idea. But you’re ‘throwing matches at a dying flame.’ Like no matter how much gas you put on it, it is dying. You know what I mean? And I got in there and I got to write with Graham Barham. That’s what we wrote with Graham and this guy named Dallas Wilson and Beau Bailey. And I just like said the title and then they just helped take it, the melodies and everything, and really helped bring it to life. But it was such a cool vibe.
Yeah, it was cool because we did the “Nothin’ But Neon” thing, and at first I didn’t know if that was really me. I was trying to do a little bit more of the country stuff and the trappy country was more of what Morgan was doing. And so I actually ended up sending “Nothin’ But Neon” to Morgan and Seth over there and Big Loud, they got lots of music, so they passed on it and all that stuff. And so I was like, ‘you know what? Maybe I should just cut it.’ And I’d never done anything. And that was our top streaming song and I was like, ‘okay, maybe there’s something to this trappy country stuff.’ And we did “Dyin’ Flame” and that just took off for, so we’re probably going to try to stay in that lane a little bit.
Do you have plans for more new music? You recently teased a new song on socials..
Yeah, that’s one thing that’s tough for us because the song I just teased, it’s “California Fit Into Tennessee.” I was in a very public relationship for a long time and I was in that relationship for almost four years and moving over here definitely caused a lot of problems with the long distance and made stuff tough. And I wrote that song from the perspective of what it would look like if she could have came with me and what it would look like if “California Fit Into Tennessee.” I love the song. I think it’s a great song. I’m just like, I’m battling myself right now because I’m like, we’re either going to drop this one and have a really awesome story behind it and all that stuff where it’s like, do we keep the energy going with “Dyin’ Flame” and we put another more tempo song out and keep it fun or whatever. So I don’t know, I’m going back and forth right now, but I’m probably just going to keep teasing a couple of songs and taking my time with it. But when we start releasing music, we’re trying to do a project and all that stuff as well, so it’ll be fun.
@itstaylerholder 1,000 comments and I’ll drop the release date! #newmusic #CaliforniaFitInTennessee ♬ original sound – Tayler Holder
Do you ever miss Los Angeles?
Absolutely not. No. LA honestly, unless I’m playing shows for some people that really love the music out there, I couldn’t give a f*** to go back there. Yeah, it sucks. There’s just no real moments with real people, dude. And then, dude, it’s sad. Like I said, I’m such a small town kid. We’re such a big family. Everyone knows everyone. And I think in the seven years of me being in LA, I don’t think I ever even went outside and threw a baseball with somebody. There was just nothing at all outside of filming. We just literally would meet up to film and then go our own ways.
When I first got here [to Nashville], one of the craziest stories that I still share with everybody is I came out here for CMA fest and the only person I really knew was Parker McCollum. I was only supposed to be here for that day, fly in, perform and fly out. I ended up meeting Shay Mooney through him as well, and he was like, ‘I’d love to write you a song.’ And I was like, ‘well, I got no clothes. I got nowhere to stay.’ I was only supposed to be here for whatever. And Parker was like, ‘you can stay at mine if you want.’ He had to leave. And so me and my manager, Parker, just let us stay there for five days and was like, here’s all the keys to all my cars and all this stuff. Make yourself a home. I was like, ‘yo, what the heck is going on?’ He’s the best. He’s been someone that’s been a massive help as well. He brought me out and I sang with him on stage as well. That was one of my first times on stage. And I came out in my hometown in front of 30,000 people and absolutely kind of torched it because I just got so nervous. I messed up the words. It was a funny thing.
You’ve been pretty public with your relationship – would you say that being happy in a relationship has influenced your new music?
Definitely, yeah. We haven’t been able to tease any of the new music that I’ve been writing since I’ve been in a new relationship and stuff like that. But everything is great and I think that there will be some cool stuff coming from it, for sure. It’s like my therapy is writing music, so I always write about what’s going on in my life at that moment. So there’ll be some cool stuff.
Is there anything else you’d like to add? Or anything else you’re excited about for 2025?
Right now we’re on our first headline tour, so we’ve still got three weekends left of that, so that’s exciting. The whole overseas stuff. Then, we got fairs and festivals and all that that we’re playing. And like I said, hopefully the EP by the end of this year. We’re just trying to play shows. We’re just trying to get a lot of music out. So I would just say just keep up with it. Stay tuned.
Fans can keep up with Tayler Holder on Instagram and TikTok.
The post Tayler Holder Reflects on His Journey to Country Music and How Jelly Roll Became His Mentor [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
