When she released her debut album “Survival In Motion” in mid-September, pop-punk singer-songwriter Taylor Acorn was a little concerned about which bin it would land in.
If this was 2017, when Acorn had her first hit on the country charts with “Put It In A Song,” the album would have a whole other vibe.
But somewhere after that modest Nashville success and before the world got sucked into a pandemic, Acorn had an epiphany about her life as a country singer:
She didn’t want it.
“I always felt like I didn’t fit in,” Acorn said during a phone call last week to talk about her 191 Toole show on Thursday, Oct. 3. “As I started to learn a little more about the industry and meet people and kind of find my footing of who I wanted to be as an artist is when I genuinely felt more happiness whenever I was listening to rock music versus listening to country.”
For a hot minute, Acorn considered leaving music altogether.
Taylor Acorn brings her new album to 191 Toole when she makes her Tucson debut on Thursday, Oct. 3.
But her partner convinced her to give it a shot so she turned to TikTok, the go-to platform for artists stuck at home during the pandemic.
She posted videos of her singing other artists’ songs and as people tuned in, she started releasing her own songs.
“It was the universe saying, ‘You got one more shot. Don’t mess it up,’” she said. “When I made the switch is when everything started changing.”
“Survival In Motion” takes its title from a poem Acorn found in a Nashville bookstore early this year and gets its inspiration from the 1990s/early 2000s pop punk she listened to growing up, including Boys Like Girls, Dashboard Confessional and Goo Goo Dolls. She also was inspired by Kelly Clarkson, Pink and other women artists.
“I just really loved how powerful those females in music are,” said the 31-year-old Acorn.
“Survival In Motion” adds Acorn’s name to that conversation, from the opening title song (“We’re not too different you and I/We’re all out here just getting by”) to the breath of fresh air optimism of “Greener” when you leave a bad situation: “The grass is greener on the other side/Yeah, it looks even better than what I had in mind”).
There’s a 1990s Yellowcard vibe to “Nervous System” and an unabashed sense of true love in “People Watching.” The driving “High Horse” contrasts with the more punk-rock-leaning “Homebody,” where you might hear flashes of Lavigne’s influence. But the album also has some pure pop moments, including the poignant closing track, “Birds Still Sing.”
“These songs, I just love them so much and I am so proud of them,” said Acorn, who co-wrote the album with her longtime friend Emma White. “Everything just kind of flowed so naturally.”
Acorn has spent part of the summer and early fall on the road with Dashboard Confessional and Boys Like Girls, and most nights she’ll look out into the audience and see girls decked out in their urban cowboy finery alongside emo kids with dark eye and lip liner.
“There were so many fans of mine showing up and it was awesome. They may not have heard of any of the bands I grew up with but they are coming to the shows and they’re listening to my music and they’re staying for the bands that I’m opening for,” Acorn said.
Acorn’s show at 191 Toole, 191 E. Toole Ave., starts at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $25-$28 through rialtotheatre.com.
