Riley Clemmons: Episode Description

On this episode of The Inspiration Project, Brendan Corr talks to music artist Riley Clemmons about becoming famous at a young age. They discuss what it’s like to grow up in a talented musical Christian family, becoming a Christian and choosing to serve God through music. Riley considers how to handle fame with humility and grace, how to find your purpose in life and when Riley knew that music was her life’s calling. Riley also discusses why going through hard times will lead you to where you need to be and how Riley’s parents felt about her going through the hardships of the Christian music industry.

Episode Summary

• What it’s like growing up in a talented musical Christian family
• Becoming a Christian at a young age
• Why Riley chose to serve God with her music
• How to handle fame and rejection with humility and grace
• How to find your purpose in life
• When Riley knew that music was her life’s calling
• Why going through hard times will lead you to where you need to be
• How Riley’s parents felt about her going through the hardships of the Christian music industry

Riley Clemmons: Episode Transcript

Sponsor Announcement
This podcast is sponsored by Australian Christian College, a network of schools committed to student well-being, character development and academic improvement.

Introduction
Welcome to The Inspiration Project, where well-known Christians share their stories to inspire young people in their faith and life. Here’s your host, Brendan Corr.

Brendan Corr
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Inspiration Project Podcast, where we get a chance to talk with individuals who’ve been able to carve out careers with great success and also find the expression of their commitment to Jesus in their faith. Today, we’re talking with Riley Clemmons. Riley is a rising artist who’s based in Nashville Tennessee, and she’s accumulated over half a billion global streams and 85 million YouTube video views since the beginning of her career, which started almost a decade ago. After spending years refining her craft in the writer’s room, Riley skyrocketed onto the music scene with a 2017 Capitol CMG debut single called Broken Prayers, which generated over 56 million global streams in its release. She then followed it up with a debut album that was on the Heatseekers chart debuting at number 13. She released another album called Godsend in 2021, which confirmed her as an artist to watch with accolades from Rolling Stone and People Magazines. Some of her singles include Fighting For Me, which became her top performing song with 160 million worldwide streams and Keep on Hoping became the fastest growing single of her career to date. Riley is an accomplished composer, performer, producer, and recording artist and draws inspiration from real-life experiences, blending musical influencers, ranging from pop to classical rock to create music that is catchy and relatable. Riley, thank you so much for giving us your time.

Riley Clemmons
Wow, that was a very lovely intro. Thank you for saying all that. That’s so kind.

Brendan Corr
It sounds like you’ve been a busy young lady to have accomplished that, and for a 10-year career with somebody that still is so early in your life maturity, so young, you’ve achieved a lot.

Riley Clemmons
Thanks. That’s very kind of you. I’m 24, so yes, I feel maybe a lot older than I am, but I grew up in the industry. It’s been a very unique path. I’ve grown up in front of people releasing music and learning as I go, so it’s been a unique experience.

Brendan Corr
Well, one of the things I hope that we can talk about today is exactly how that career has emerged for you, if it began in your early teens, be really interested to know, I mean, that’s very early to find a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, and I’d love to explore with you what that meant, how it felt, what were the people around you that were helping give you some advice. And then, as you say, growing up in a pretty heavy duty cutthroat industry, you will have experiences beyond your years that have given you perspective, and that you will be drawing on. And then, I’d love to talk with you about music itself.

Riley Clemmons
Yeah, let’s do it.

Brendan Corr
Let’s roll back and hear that story you’ve had 10 years in the industry. So beginning early teens, when did you know that music was your thing? When did you discover this was at your heart?

Riley Clemmons
I think there’s a very special aspect to this part of my story in the sense that I did start so young. And so when you’re 14 years old and all you want to do when you grow up is write songs, tell people about your faith and your life and your relationships through your music and be a performer, I loved music, I love writing songs very early on, and part of the beautiful thing about being 14 is I wasn’t thinking of a backup plan. There was no part of me that was thinking about, well, realistically what’s going to work? I definitely was led by my passion by that raw passion for music, for artistry, for songwriting. That’s what directed me, and I did feel a strong sense of purpose in my life from the Lord to do this, to be in this industry. So I did get started really young. I started writing songs, and they got recognised, and I signed a publishing deal, which is basically a deal to write songs when I was 15, signed a label deal shortly after a very whirlwind experience, and went to high school through it all. And so I started very early. I think that the honest way to talk about the experience is that it is a cutthroat industry and as beautiful as the umbrella of Christian music industry is, it’s still a business and it’s still an industry and goodness gracious over the past many years, it has broken my heart so many times, and it’s the kind of thing that can chew you up and spit you out if you’re not careful. And if you don’t have a strong… Yes, if you don’t have a strong sense of purpose that comes from something more steady than the songs you write or the success you have or the number on a chart. And that’s really been my experience that led me to this album, to this point is figuring out as I’ve navigated this industry quite publicly and released music and learned and developed my own personal sound and artistry and voice as a songwriter and artist, it’s all part of my journey. I’ve learned so much, but this album feels like me in a really authentic way because of the times I’ve fallen and scraped up my knees and gotten back up.

Brendan Corr
Yeah, well, you are speaking with the wisdom that only comes through hard-earned experience. And I’d love to explore a little bit later in our conversation what role your faith has played in keeping you grounded and centred and in touch with what you describe as an identity that is bigger than the celebrity. Can I take you back a little bit further? You mentioned you started early into the industry. Were you that two-year-old that was putting on concerts for your family? Was it just something that explained their opinion?

Riley Clemmons
Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s always been that. It’s always been that. And my parents said they knew right when I came out of the womb, but that’s what I loved. I was singing and dancing all through my youth, and yes, I was the girl wanting to put on a dress up outfit and sing in the hallways and do a show for the family or get on the coffee table and dance. And that’s always been what I’ve loved.

Brendan Corr
So there’s a difference. Riley, you have passion, but there’s clearly something that you’ve got to add to that passion. Desire and enthusiasm isn’t enough. You have to learn your craft. You’ve got to do the hard yards of mastering a skill set, mastering the things that are required to be a musician, to be a producer, to be a songwriter. When did you start to marry this drive that was in you and the skills that you needed to express that?

Riley Clemmons
It’s been a learning experience from day one. I’m still learning if that’s the honest answer. So starting back when I was 13, I started co-writing with people in town. So I was walking into rooms where you would see Grammys and awards on the wall, and I was a scrappy thirteen-year-old who just loved to write music. And so I think a big part of my story was learning how to be a student in those rooms, walking in, learning, leaning into the expertise and experience of peers of the people I was working with and collaborating with in the studio. That was a huge part of the journey. Same on the business side. I believe that a unique part of my story again is I learned the music business as I existed in the music business. That’s a big part of it. And so learning over time, I think that the honest answer, it takes time to discover, to marry the understanding of a skill set and the skills that it requires with the individuality of the person. So taking the skill set that you learned from others and figuring out how to make it your own, figuring out how to make it unique as an artist, figuring out how to put your own tonality to put your own personality behind everything that you do. And my belief is that that takes time. And so I was learning from age 13 to 24 where I’m at now. I’m learning every single day, and I do believe that it takes time and persistence and determination to discover who you are, what you want to say, what you’re passionate about as an artist and a person.

Brendan Corr
Yeah, so what I’m hearing, Riley, is we read that bio at the start of our conversation, and you burst on the scene, you skyrocketed into the charts, and there would be the common description that it was an overnight success. That’s just all in a moment and this incredibly fortunate opportunity, wonderfully talented person and the shooting star, but that belies the history, belies the backstory. And you mentioned the scraped knees. Would that be an accurate thing to say there was a lot of work that went in before you got your 2017?

Riley Clemmons
Oh yeah, of course. I mean there were tears. There were things that I wouldn’t do again, I learned every single day. No, I mean, I wouldn’t claim that any part of my story is an overnight success. I’ve seen overnight success happen in the industry, and it’s a really special thing. I also think that there is something to be said, and my parents have always said this of this, what this is, it’s a build of you keep working, you keep walking up that hill. It’s maybe not like that, but I think that there is a lot of grit that’s built in the slow climb and having to work for the things that you have and really have this sense of, “I earned this,” or maybe not. And it’s more than that. It’s more than earning it.

Brendan Corr
You work hard for it.

Riley Clemmons
I’m working hard. And showing up every single day on the days that are unglamorous, on the days you want to cry between you. Yesterday was a really tough day in the industry for me, I had to have a hard conversation that was not fun. And there was this moment of, “Gosh, this is the worst,” but that’s when the grit comes in. That’s when you have to look at yourself in the face and go, “But I can do this.” And my purpose goes beyond one bad day in the end.

Brendan Corr
That’s good. That is so good. 14 or even earlier, 13, going in and writing songs with songwriting room, that’s a big step for a young person and some of the challenges that you are describing, they’re grown up challenges and you are facing them as an early adolescent. How did your parents feel about you stepping into this world and going through the knocks and the hardship?

Riley Clemmons
I’m very grateful. I have grown up and existed in a family. I’m still very close to my family. I’ve grown up in a family of tough people. I’ve watched my parents go through hard things. I’ve watched them go through bad news. I’ve watched them go through loss, through failure, through businesses that didn’t work out. I’ve seen it. I’ve watched it. And every single time I’ve watched them walk through something like that, I’ve watched them get back up again. So that being said, at 13 years old, there was always the safety of a family that loves me for me, not for what I can accomplish or do. And I’ve always known that. I’ve never doubted that. I’ve never had to doubt that, which has been a massive blessing, and God certainly knew I wouldn’t need it being in the industry that young. They’ve also… I mean, yesterday, I called my parents and I’m always having a rough day. It was just a tough day, and business was just tough. And I remember calling them and the wisdom of them reminding me, feel what you feel. Be upset. Let yourself cry. Let yourself exist there and then decide to get back up because why would you not?

Brendan Corr
Amen.

Riley Clemmons
If your purpose is more than a bad day, then you have to really believe that and get back up again.

Brendan Corr
So we can see that attitude in other expressions of deep desire or deep passion that might manifest either in music or in art or drama or other expressive things, but you are speaking with something that’s more than just your dream. You’ve spoken about a sense of purpose. Can you help us? Obviously, faith plays a part in who you are, how you understand your world. Can you share with us how you have come to an experience of faith and how you feel God has commissioned you for something more than just self-expression?

Riley Clemmons
Yeah, that’s good. Yes, there have been many days of, “What am I? I’m just writing songs. Who really cares?” So there are all sorts of emotions that come with being an artist and creating it and putting out your art. I grew up in the church. I’ve always known who Jesus is, and that’s been such a gift. The same time, it’s become a big important part of my journey as a Christian to step into faith that is not a hand-me-down for my parents or anything like that, that is a faith that is truly my own relationship with my saviour, that has to be the centre. My journey and experience with my career has taught me so much about my faith, and I believe that it has pushed me to recommit myself to my faith all the time, all the time. The interesting thing about this, and honestly, what I’ve come to find out is that in every industry, you don’t have to be an artist or creative. You can be in IT. You can be in sales. You can be working at the cash register somewhere. It doesn’t matter. Every single day, it’s about reminding yourself, at least in my journey, it’s about reminding myself that my faith will exist, if what I do does not, how do I protect it? How do I really choose intentionally to find my value, my self-worth, my purpose and the love of the father, not the love of the world. Not how loud they clap for me. And yeah, some days I believe that wholeheartedly, and some days, I really have to convince myself that I believe that, and I think that’s just humanity and the life we live down here.

Brendan Corr
I think that’s lovely, and I can sense in your reflections on your career and the difficulty that it’s faced, that is you have a true understanding that this is not just your dream. This is not just you realising your ambition, that you carry an identity as a child of God, as a servant of God. That helps you get up when the knees are scraped. That leads me to think about… I was listening to as we’re getting ready for this conversation, I was listening to some of your music and the song Fighting For Me that describes that the recognition that whatever it is that we are battling, there is your saviour, the person who continues to take the fight on your behalf as much as you’re able to let them do that, that speaks as we unpacking it. Obviously, that song has incredible personal significance. It is like the conversation between you and God in lots of ways. How do you do that as a creative person? How do you have the courage to here is my inner world, my most intimate experience, and I’m putting it out there in this thing?

Riley Clemmons
I don’t think I would find a lot of fulfillment as an artist if I didn’t infuse my music entirely with my own experiences. I think that vulnerability is what connects us as people, as humans, as people who love Jesus. I think that it’s a very beautiful thing to be able to tell our stories in the fullness of the imperfections. I have always related entirely to other people’s vulnerabilities, and I think that there’s something to be said of the purpose of music in our lives as these entities that hold our stories and hold our vulnerabilities and allow others to connect to them and feel less alone. I do believe that the purpose of storytelling is to remind ourselves that our stories are more alike than we might even know when it comes down to the general feelings, to the hardships, to the beautiful things about it. So I think that that’s, as a songwriter, that’s always the goal because I believe that’s the purpose that God has for me is to be honest as a songwriter.

Brendan Corr
That’s great. One of the things I wanted to explore with you was on my reflections before we started to talk about the contrast between something that is so personal. This is your heart, your experience, your thoughts, your emotions that are intensely personal, and yet it becomes popular. It gets 86 million streams or 160 million, whatever those numbers. Then, there’s so many people that are tapping into or that are finding the connection you’re describing. You’ve started in that last response to describe or explain how you understand that, how something that is so individual then becomes mass appeal. Can you unpack that a little bit more for us? What do you think is going on there? Why does something that is yours have such a broad connection?

Riley Clemmons
I mean, it blows my mind. I don’t understand it in its fullness because it’s very… I get a bit of the imposter syndrome side of it, that’s why… Wow, this is just my experience. It’s crazy to have that many people connecting to it. Selfishly, it makes me feel a lot less alone knowing that other people are relating to my story and experience. It makes me feel connected to 86 million people, however many people there are. I think it just comes down to this idea that telling our stories in an honest and authentic way invites other people to find comfort in sharing their stories. And my dad is never going to be a songwriter, my brother’s never going to be a songwriter, but if they can connect to songs that they listen to, those songs help to tell their stories, those songs become their songs. That’s how I’ve always connected to music. And so yeah, it’s an honour to see a lot of people listening to the music. It’s very surreal.

Brendan Corr
Yeah, which is speaking a little bit to the nature of art, isn’t it? If we’re thinking about what is the purpose of art and why is it put into the public sphere, the public domain, or why does it have appeal in the public domain? I think you are right, and it’s hinting at the fact that it becomes the expression of something that other people that know the experience, even if you can’t express it in the way a storyteller or a songwriter or a visual artist can tell it, but they know those same things, and so the connection is this is our ultimate humanity.

Riley Clemmons
Right, exactly.

Brendan Corr
So, Riley, I wonder in that sort of space, we’re talking about you being an artist and the capturing of your own heart in your music. What is the thing that gives you the most sense of reward or the most sense of contentment? Is it the creative act, “I’ve poured my heart into this song, and that is the experience that I strive for”? Is it the performance? Is it the most rewarding thing to say, “I’m now carrying this out to an audience, and I’m feeling the connection”? Is it the thing in itself, “I’m in the studio, and I’ve mastered this artefact,” that is the pattern.

Riley Clemmons
It’s all of those. I think it’s the experience. I find a lot of creative fulfillment in the experience. There’s something to be said of writing a song and as the songwriter listening back and going, “Whoa, yeah, that sums up how I felt. I communicated that idea well. I communicated that idea in a way that feels authentic to me.” That’s a massively satisfying thing. As an artist, it’s very rewarding. I love playing the songs live. It’s watching the life of a song go from this idea that lives in your brain and you put it in a notebook, then you take it to the studio, and then you flesh it out enough to turn it into a real song, and then the real song has vocals, and then there are instruments, and that’s another super rewarding part, is watching it go from that space to being played live, to watching people sing along with you. I think that’s the honest answer. I find a lot of fulfillment. I find a lot of reward, so to say, in every single iteration of the experience. Also, the business side of things is also becoming very, very rewarding to me, because I’m a student of it, because I’ve learned, because it is a part of… I believe that excellence in business is an important part of doing well in this industry and being a good and healthy artist.

Brendan Corr
So when we describe you in now a little bios, a composer, a performer, a producer, that’s Riley. You can’t break that apart, and this is really me and I have to do these other things to make this other thing work. It’s the full package.

Riley Clemmons
I hope so. Yeah, I love all of those aspects of the process.

Brendan Corr
Fantastic. Well, Riley, thank you so much for your time today. I wonder if people wanted to listen to music, is there any particular way or can you point them to somewhere? I know they can stream it on Spotify or another streaming service, but how can they do some more follow-up if they’re interested?

Riley Clemmons
Head to rileyclemmons.com, and it’ll have the links to socials, the links to the music, all of it. So that’s the easiest way, and yeah, we’d love to have you come hang out on my little corner of the internet with us, so hop to it.

Brendan Corr
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Know that there’ll be people praying for you and that

Riley Clemmons
Thank you.

Brendan Corr
God will keep fighting for you.

Riley Clemmons
Hey, and you too. It was so good to speak with you.