Nashville musician Hannah Cole saw two choices when she was at Belmont for music: She could choose the commercial path — or she could go the artist’s way. Her new album Switchbacks is about her twists and turns as she begins to navigate the music industry as an artist on her own.
Taking the stage at the Blue Room for the release of her debut album, the house was packed with people who came just to see her. Getting to this point, this beginning, is something Cole didn’t even think was possible as a kid in Covington, Louisiana.
“ I didn’t see that path for myself as someone from a really small town where no one did that. No one became a songwriter or a commercial artist,” she said.
But after a girl at her high school toured Belmont and told Cole there were classes about the music business and publishing, Hannah said, “Okay.”
“So I auditioned for the songwriting program and got in, somehow,” she said. And when she started, she saw two tracks: commercial songwriting and the artist’s route. Many people can be torn about these two paths.
Choosing her path
Some of her commercial songwriting classes focused on music sync, like songs in the background of ads or movies. It’s one of the few places where songwriters can still make decent money. Sync writing is vibe-based and less personal, which really works for sync artists like Annalisa Franklin, who sees that as an opportunity.
“Sync has allowed me to be more of a multifaceted writer and singer because I have these different avenues just sonically where sometimes I do things that are a little darker for trailers or movies. And then sometimes it’s very tongue-in-cheek bubbly rap. And I get to be both those girls in the span of a week if I want to, which is the best,” Franklin said.
In contrast, there is the artist’s way: often less money, but more personal.
Cole tried the commercial route. But then, she drifted.
“I think I started to realize as I kept writing and got more personal in my writing, I was like, ‘Oh, I think people would want to hear my personal perspective on things.'”
Adam Alonzo Hannah Cole
Silversun Pickups
And then she met a boy. They made a song together called “Clothes.”
“That was my first song that I put out. I feel like people were sweet about it, and I think it was exciting and new at the time for people our age to put out music.”
And their friends weren’t the only ones to notice. She put out some more songs, and then she got a big break.
She was asked to open for alternative rock band Silversun Pickups. Lead singer Brian Aubert watched her from side stage with the rest of the band. “She just kind of blew our faces off, and we were just kind of in awe because it sounded so thick. We’re just floored,” he said.
Switchbacks, by Hannah Cole
The sound on Switchbacks is big. That boy she made that first song with? His name is Joseph Kuhn, and he became Nickname Jos, a progressive up-and-coming producer in town who has shaped sounds for Annie DiRusso, Mali Velasquez and Samia.
Cole and Nickname Jos are dating now. He was playing drums with her at the Blue Room show. That’s right; this is a love story too!
Climbing the mountain
Switchbacks is about choosing the artist’s way.
“‘MMA’ is kinda just about the gamble of success. Like, I’m signing up for this thing, people are watching from the outside, and maybe they’re watching me fail,” Cole said. That’s part of the risk of putting herself out there. She continued, “ Am I gonna keep doing this thing? Am I gonna leave, or am I gonna stay and figure out my way and forge my own path in this career choice?”
Going back to that conversation with Aubert, the lead singer of Silversun pickups: At the end of the conversation, I asked him what he wishes for Cole. He said: “All you gotta do with people like that is get them in front of people. Do you know what I’m saying? If you put them in front of people or they hear it… that’s it.”
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