Mickey Guyton is finally having her moment. However, the singer revealed that wasn't always the case. She considered giving up on country music because she didn't feel embraced by the genre.
"It was hard trying to find my footing in a predominately white male-dominated industry," Guyton shares in an interview on Grammy.com. "I had to really become comfortable with who I am and find my own voice and way in an industry that seemed to have a specific path that you had to follow in order to make it."
Guyton thought she final hit her big break when she dropped her first single "Better Than You Left Me." However, that song ended up sputtering out on country radio and failed to launch the career that she hoped for. The singer ended up penniless and "broke," turning to her husband for financial support.
Mickey Guyton Didn't Have Plan B
"I didn't have a plan B; music was it," she said on the "My New BFF" podcast. "I had no plan." Her husband convinced her not to move back to Los Angeles and give up on her dream. She later launched her debut album Remember Her Name. "I wasn't seen for a long time, and now I feel seen," she said on the "BFF" podcast. "I'm finally getting an opportunity to write the music that's important to me."
The debut album proved to be the push that Guyton's career finally needed. "There's this little window of what they want women to sing," Guyton explained. "I was so miserable because it is not natural for me to shut my mouth and not have an opinion." From there, she ended up touring with Shania Twain and in Time Magazine. She's playing all of the dazzling city lights, and it wouldn't have happened otherwise. The singer opened up about being a role model for others. She said that she's inspired by other Black artists.
"I think watching other Black women in country music getting their shot because of me [feels] like I made it," Guyton told Black Love. "My career wouldn't be where it's at if I didn't lift [other Black artists]."
