Jillian Steele

During a scroll through Instagram , I cam e across the reel of New York raised and Nashville- based singer, Jillian Steele. In the background, she played her new song, 'You Can Have Him ,' while overlaying a relatable caption. The m om ent I saw it, I fell in love with it and had to find out m ore about her. "My fam ily used to bring m e into NYC to watch m y cousin perform and I rem em ber I was probably five years old watching her at som e cabaret show thinking "OK this is what I want to do I want to sing on stage."

At 18, she m oved to Nashville to study at the prestigious Belm ont University and decided Nashville would be her hom e. "I loved every m inute I spent at Belm ont and m et som e incredible people and m entors," she said. Additionally, she noted that going to school can also hinder your career due to expenses and not being able to get out there as a full tim e student.

In her first pop- country song, "You Can Have Him ," Jillian captures the em otions of a young wom an just out of a toxic relationship, drawing inspiration from her own past. " [ It] actually isn't about a specific person or story (although i definitely pulled som e inspo from m y past lol). I was sitting with m y co- writers and we were discussing how there are so m any sad breakup songs and not enough songs about being glad a certain chapter has closed. I also am the biggest fan of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton and always wanted to write kind of the opposite of "please don't take m y m an" which is how "you can have him " cam e about."

Her openness became increasingly popular as she became increasingly popular on social media. "I think i am a relatively open person. I have always been super protective over what I would write and choose to share with the world, and it took being on platform s like TikTok and Instagram reels to understand that people really want to know about the hum an behind the songs. once i started sharing m ore and being m ore of an open book i felt m ore love and support than ever!"

In term s of advice for wom en who can relate to her song, Jillian says to just feel it and know what you are feeling is norm al. "I think the m ost im portant thing is just to sit with and m ake sure you are really feeling every em otion. knowing that everything you are feeling is a norm al hum an reaction. it is so easy to brush things off or bottle up how we are feeling, but i don't think you ever truly heal or "deal" with things that way. also there's som ething so freeing about trusting the universe has your back and som ething better is already on it's way to you."

When she was working on new m usic, Jillian paused to address issues close to her heart, Roe vs Wade. She took on the song she loves m ost, 'Just A Girl', by Gwen Stefani, to express her opinion. The cover has over 11k views on Instagram . "I have always been SUCH a fan of this song and Gwen Stefani. she is like the epitom e of a bad ass, em powering wom an and it just felt like this was the perfect tim e for this m essage to be brought back around given everything going on in the world right now."

Despite the fact that it m ay take tim e to process, voting is the key. "Vote like your rights depend on it because they do. It's certainly an uneasy tim e, i feel like i am still processing it as well, but there are so m any resources and support groups and incredible wom en and people sharing their stories that m ake this whole m ess feel a little less lonely."

As long as Jillian releases the raw and uncut truth in her m usic, she gives us hopethat we are strong enough to m ake it and strong enough to fight for our rights aswom en. Her full debut album is set for late next year, and I am eagerly anticipating it.