Artist Spotlight: ABBIGAIL is on a one-year challenge to land a publishing deal!

I was listening to submissions a few weeks ago when I found an indie pop track that sounded good. As I was clicking to learn more about the artist, I learned that ABBIGAIL is in the midst of a one-year challenge to land a publishing deal. That was such an intriguing concept that left me with a lot of questions… why is she doing this? What if she doesn’t get a deal? And why publishing rather than performance? So I reached out for an interview and here are the high points of our energetic and enjoyable conversation.

When we started talking, Abbigail had some wonderful things to say about her lifelong passion for songwriting. It was evident that this is not just a marketing ploy or something she’s doing to try to make money. Would she like to land a sync deal or have a hit song? Of course! But the point here is to find an outlet for a lifelong passion. As I asked about her story, I was really interested in those blogger questions about things like genre and influences, but before I could even get to that I could tell that I was talking to a real music lover. Abbigail makes music because it’s a genuine expression of who she is as a person and that authenticity is why I believe she will be successful in this challenge.

One of the goals of her approach is to be a versatile songwriter, able to tackle different genres like what you might expect with indie pop (like the song I’m featuring today, “Relationship Killer”) alongside country and even singer songwriter style anthems. I wasn’t expecting to hear her mention “CCM,” which, for those of you who do not know, refers to Contemporary Christian Music. This is a genre that really emerged in the 90s and early 2000s. It’s still represented with a lot of Christian music radio stations and the DOVE Awards each year.

When I asked why she was taking on this challenge, Abbigail explained that she likes to tell stories and she wants to be able to tell them with many different styles and genres. “Could I write everything?” she asked herself as she started. So pitching songs in pop, country, and CCM all makes sense now.

For the young lady who started singing in church as a three-year old, this is a lifelong pursuit that is coming to a natural turning point. After performing much of her life, she recently spent time as a touring manager and, while she enjoyed that role, she thought that maybe she could be the one creating and telling the stories as well. So now her life is a bit more settled as she teaches voice lessons each week, she still has that vision of making her own songwriting into her career.

When I asked about influences, she mentioned some expected names like Gracie Abrams, Holly Humberstone, and Phoebe Bridgers. I was really glad to hear her discuss names like Dolly Parton and Joni Mitchell, who are clear songwriting giants. But then she mentioned Ben Rector, one of my favorite artists (and a brilliant songwriter in his own right), which made me grin from ear to ear. She included her mentor Brit Nicole as well as one of her music professors Jeff Deyo (Sonicflood). It’s really great to hear the wide range of influences and people who shape Abbigail’s sound and style.

So the song that spawned this conversation is “Relationship Killer,” a thoughtful and engaging story about a broken relationship. The line about someone pulling her into the crisis, as a “casualty of my kindness” absolutely feels like a Taylor Swift line. One of the things I like most about the song is the way that it captures elements of pop music while still having this raw, almost dark sensibility to it in places. It’s about the pain and heartache felt from the collapse of the relationship, despite everything it could have been. Sonically, I appreciate the production style. The dynamic elements in the background serve to put the story at the forefront, again a marquee of artists like Swift, Bridgers, and my favorite comp for Abbigail, Lizzy McAlpine. If 2024 was the “year of Lizzy” for me, perhaps we’ll be looking at 2026 or 2027 as the year of Abbigail. Check out the song to hear why it captured my attention so well.

After all of the feel-good conversation about influences and how she got to this place, I had to ask the hard question. What happens if this fails? What if she gets to the end of the year with no deal in place? Well, her answer to that reflected a beautiful maturity. “Music is a passion,” she went on to explain that she would keep trying, but would view a failure here as a “reality check.” I thought that was a balanced and genuine take. She explained that she puts her heart into this music. It’s a “healthy pressure” where she’s betting on herself to make this work. She found a good producer, has some co-writes set up, and is pouring her heart and soul into this challenge.

I don’t have *those kind* of contacts in the music industry, but if I did I would say absolutely give this talented songwriter a shot. I comb through hundreds of tracks in a week, let alone in the whole year, and this is the kind of song that stood out right away. Imagine what she will do as she continues to develop as a songwriter and artist. One of my favorite questions was to ask about why she wanted to land a writing deal instead of trying to make it big as an artist herself… she smiled and said, “maybe I could do it all…” There was a quiet confidence to it. I think ABBIGAIL has a shot to do it all. Spin her music, follow her story, and remember her name when she takes off!