Interview: Avery Anna

Avery Anna: “It’s really important to make sure your co-writers are people who understand you as a person.”

The Arizona native discusses her co-writing, how her fans directly inspire her music, and her debut album Breakup Over Breakfast

Avery Anna has only been in Nashville for four years, well short of the city’s famed “ten-year town” timeline, but she’s already achieved what many artists only dream of. By turning personal journal entries into poetic lyrics, she has earned over 500 million streams and developed a strong fan base drawn to her authenticity.

Releasing her debut album Breakup Over Breakfast last year, its 17 tracks combine emotional depth with lyrical maturity. Produced by David Fanning, the album moves fluidly through themes of love and heartbreak, offering a candid and soulful reflection on personal experience. The album features co-writes with some of the most respected writers in Nashville, including The Love Junkies (Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, and Hillary Lindsey) who worked with Anna on the album’s closing song, The Rest.

In our interview, Avery shares how one fan’s “let go letter” was the inspiration behind her latest single Mr Predictable, what it was like working alongside her dream co-writers, and the two moments that have defined her breakout year.

Read how The Love Junkies wrote ‘Girl Crush’

When did you start writing music?

“I started writing in general in a journal when I was eight years old, because my aunt got me a journal when I got baptised, and she told me to write down how I felt so that I didn’t forget. I wrote about my baptism and from then on, I got in the habit of writing down how I feel so that I didn’t forget or so that I could forget. I wrote my first song when I was probably in third or fourth grade, but I never showed anyone. My first legit song was like sixth grade, about my crush who did me dirty. So, ever since then, a lot of my writing inspiration has come from my journal entries.”

What inspired you to start writing songs?

“I take pride in being a really positive person, and so when I had big, ugly emotions, I didn’t really feel comfortable sharing that with people, so I would write about it. I remember, anytime something hurt or when I would be having a hard time, I never talked about it. I just wrote about it. I finally started sharing the songs I was writing when I got to middle school.”

And what was the writing process behind Mr Predictable like?

“This song and the songs that are going to follow are very unique to the writing process. It’s different from what I’ve done in my whole life, because usually it’s heavily inspired by my journal entries. But, Mr Predictable was heavily inspired by these things at my shows called “let-go letters.” It’s basically where anyone who comes can write down anything that they need to get off their chest, that they’re struggling with, and just let it go. So, a lot of girls wrote to me about being cheated on, and there’s one specific girl who gave me a whole spiel. I had actually already started the concept of Mr Predictable, and it fit with everything that these people were sharing with me. So, the reason for it being released and actually recorded is because of the fans and the people that are attending the shows.”

Are the “let-go letters” anonymous?

“Some of them. Some people sign their name and leave their Instagram, and I actually reached out to a few of them. But yeah, they’re mostly anonymous. It’s really cool, actually. People write about all kinds of struggles and things that they just want to rid themselves of.  It’s a big inspiration for everything that’s gonna be coming out for me.”

And what inspired you to start doing those letters?

“I started doing headlining shows, I was singing songs like Narcissist, Biggest T-Shirt, Girl Next Door, and Vanilla, and I just saw all these people come together and express a similar pain that they were going through. To be on the stage and observing that, I felt like I had a way to cope with it and get rid of those feelings through songwriting. I also journal a lot, so I was like, ‘You guys should write down how you feel, whether it’s personally or you bring it to me. You can bring it to the show.’

“At first, I would take them personally at the meet-and-greet after the show. Then I started putting a mailbox out at the merch booth so people filled up the mailbox every night. I do meet-and-greets after every single one of my shows, so I’d meet them, and then I’d read the letters later and see how much people are actually going through.”

Avery Anna: “Even if it feels scary or vulnerable, you have to be authentic and do what is true to you.”

You co-wrote every song on the album Breakup Over Breakfast – how do you approach the co-writing process, and what makes a great songwriting session for you?

“The process was interesting to me first going into it because I always just wrote by myself, and it was a very vulnerable thing. So, when it comes to co-writing, especially in an environment of people where that’s their job to write songs, you have to find people that you’re comfortable with enough to be that vulnerable. I value the real, raw, and vulnerable emotions of the songwriting so much that I was very particular about who I was writing with and the types of things that we were writing about. It wasn’t just that we went in and wrote a song about whatever we wanted. It was very intentional.”

Can you speak about the writers on the album?

“The co-writers that are on my first record, I love and adore and admire.  The Love Junkies – Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, and Hillary Lindsey – and Ben Williams, Andy Sheridan, and David Fanning they’re my go-to guys. There is one song on the record that I did write by myself, which is Girl Next Door. It’s really important to make sure your co-writers are people who understand you as a person.”

You mentioned working with The Love Junkies so can you give us a little overview of what that session was like?

“I was so nervous to write with them. I had written with each of them individually, but never all of them together. My manager was like, ‘You need a love song or an emotional heartbreak song. That is your superpower and it’s their superpower too, so go in and get it done.’

“I get there and they’re asking me about how I started singing, and I shared with them a story about my grandpa and my grandparents and just how they are and how I was raised. I had just interviewed my grandparents over Christmas, because, you know, I want to pick their brains and understand more about them while I can. And they thought it was so special – the whole story of my upbringing, my grandpa teaching me guitar, and singing classic country together – that they were like, ‘Well, let’s write about that.’

“I showed them a piece of what my grandma said in her interview, and she said, ‘The Lord has blessed my whole life and I just had to give everything to God because it was His plan all along.’ Then we wrote The Rest. The hook is, ‘Keep a good heart and a prayer in your chest, and the Lord will do the rest.’ That’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written because it hits home so much.”

Going off of that, are there any artists you would want to collaborate with?

“At the end of last year, I did three: Adrien Nunez, Jenna Raine, and Sam Barber. All of them are my friends. I love them, and I’m so grateful to have done stuff with them. But dream collabs… I would be absolutely psychotic if I didn’t say Taylor Swift first. I’ll just throw that one up there first. But, I also love The Lumineers, Chris Stapleton, The Red Clay Strays, Stephen Wilson Jr, Maggie Antone – I love her and Brandi Carlile and Kelsea Ballerini.”

So, it seems like, especially in the past year, you’ve had a lot of really big successes. What was a ’I can’t believe this is happening’ moment where you felt like things really started to change for your music?

“Two things.  First, my debut performance at The Grand Ole Opry, where 65 of my family and friends were there, and it just felt like the biggest, ‘I made it,’ moment. Like, if I never do anything after this, that’s fine, because it was so special to me and my family.

“The other one would be my first headlining tour.  It was 300-500-cap rooms, but they were packed. It was the first time I had seen the real impact that my songs were having on people. So, yeah, that was one of the most special things to me”

Last question: you’ve obviously worked with some amazing songwriters, and you’ve been in Nashville for a bit now – can you share your biggest songwriting lesson or piece of advice for other people, whether they’re in Nashville or not?

“My biggest piece of advice would be to write from the heart and honestly. Even if it feels scary or vulnerable, you have to be authentic and do what is true to you and what you’ve been through. Otherwise, it’s not gonna fill your cup or anyone else’s.”

Avery Anna’s new songs, Mr Predictable and Wish You Well, are both out now. For music, live dates and more, head over to averyannamusic.com

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