Bailey Zimmermanis dedicated to his craft!
On Wednesday, Apple Music announced the “Rock and a Hard Place” singer as the latest addition to itsUp Next program. In honor of the addition, PEOPLE is premiering a clip where the rising country star sat down with Kelleigh Bannen onToday’s Countryand opened up about the journey that led him to where he is today.
Recalled a show he played in Illinois in 2020, Zimmerman, 22, detailed what motivated him to pursue a career in music.
“I was singing for like three people and this dude that is also an artist named Dylan Wolfe from my hometown he was like, ‘Dude, have you ever tried to be — like actually sing?’ and I was like, ‘No man.’ He was like, ‘Well, you need to take your braces off because it’s giving you a lisp when you sing, but if you do that I think you can be an artist.'”
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Coincidentally, Zimmerman had an orthodontist appointment scheduled the next day and he asked them to take the braces off immediately — despite how much it would cost and that his teeth weren’t “straight.”
“I was like, ‘Don’t care, take them off, I’m done.’ And a week later I wrote my first song,” said Zimmerman, who released his EPLeave the Light Onin October.
He posted the song on TikTok, quit his job and never looked back.
“Every day I wake up and there’s more records we broke, there’s more streams and we’re doing really big things but it doesn’t feel like that. I still feel really normal and I still feel like, ‘Holy freakin crap, what is even going on?'”
He continued, “I wake up in Nashville every day and I’m like, ‘This is insane man.’ "
The full interview will be available Friday on Apple Music’sToday’s Country.
He also shot a short film with Apple Music where he takes fans along some of his favorite spots in Nashville and where he writes and produces his music, available now onapple.co/upnextbaileyzimmerman.
source: people.com
