One thing I have learned about TV singing shows is that the finalists are nearly always as good (if not better) as the actual winner. So, I try to interview as many country singers from these shows as possible.
Presley Tennant is a powerhouse singer from Norco, California, a horse town that is 35 miles east of Los Angeles. She was a finalist on Season 16 of NBC’s The Voice in 2019 when she was just 16. She has often been compared to Whitney Houston and Carrie Underwood.
She started singing at a young age and often did these little recitals for fun. At the age of 10, she auditioned for a singing competition called BMG Idol in the nearby town of Temecula. When the mayor of Temecula saw young Tennant, he introduced her to a group called The 5 LPs or The 5 Little Princesses.
Tennant remembered, “I auditioned for the group a multitude of times. And they would cut me, and then they'd start bringing me back. But then every time they'd cut me.”
She started taking dance lessons and eventually, she got into the group. She had to go to LA three times a week to rehearse, from 8 AM to 4 PM. That’s when she fell in love with the music business. She did this for three years until the group ended. The 5 LPs were a Christian pop group, so she continued to pursue pop music as a solo artist.
When she was 16, someone told her, "Oh, you have to be happy with what you're doing. Otherwise, if you want to do this for the long run, you might as well be doing something that you love."
But honestly, she had an inner battle of trying to be someone she was not. That is when Tennant took a step back into country music, music that reminded her of home.
“It's always kind of been a part of me. I started singing. Country was one of the first genres that I really started singing when I was young and at these talent show things. I made my way back to country music, and I think that the coolest thing about it is that I am able to just tell stories. And that's one of my favorite things to do.”
And while country music is more accommodating to other styles than it used to be, Tennant feels that she is can now sing and be her true authentic self.
Tennant auditioned for The Voice to have the chance to be with one of her long-time idols, Kelly Clarkston. It was great a experience to see all these people who do music full-time and not just as a hobby.
When she sang “Stone Cold,“ Kelly Clarkston was astonished that she was only the one who turned around, but Tennant was fine with it all. The highlight of that season was when the 17-year-old got to duet with Clarkston on her smash hit, “Because of You” on Tennant’s birthday. And fans loved her cover of Miley Cyrus’s “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart.”
She recalled, “Now that I look back on it, I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, I could have done so much more.’ But you have to live and learn and go through these things.”
In 2022, Tennant released the EP 600 Miles, but it was her cover of Zach Bryan’s “Something In The Orange” sung from a female perspective that blew up on TikTok.
She stated, “I was flying home from Nashville, and I added the song to my playlist, then listened to the entire album. There was something just so special about the song that it really drew me in. I thought it would be interesting to create it from the girl’s perspective.”
She was correct and the song has become her biggest hit to date.
Now after a brief hiatus, Presley Tennant is back with her newest single, “Somebody Like You.” The sentiment of the anti-love song is being grateful that “I will never find, ‘Somebody Like You.’”
"This is the start of a new era of Presley Tennant, and we are so excited to see the reception," stated Burning Ground Entertainment owner and Presley's manager, Dawn DeJongh.
Even though it’s just been two years since her last release, a lot of changes have happened to Tennant who went from being a teenager to being 21 years old. Though technically she still lives in California, she frequently comes to Nashville to write and make music.
She confirmed, “Every trip I'm out here, I'm writing so much new music. And I have been so psyched to release this new stuff because I just feel like all these new songs are like my little baby that I have spent so much time with, and I can't wait for people to hear it.”
The former The Voice contestant has a plethora of upcoming performances around the new track including tour dates to the Jacked Up Music Festival in Atwater, California, on April 20, the Key West Songwriters Festival, Boots in the Park in both Santa Clarita, and Frenso with Sam Hunt and Jake Owen, and more.
Be sure to follow Presley Tennant on her socials so you can keep you with her new music and where she will be performing live. Keep up with her on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube, and all music streaming platforms.
- - -
Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and Twitter.