Bonner Black is a Tennessee native who is paving her lane in Music City. I remember seeing Black playing at a writer’s round about five years ago, and I walked away impressed. But her music has only gotten better since that night. Black recently released an album called “hopeless romANTICS.” I have listened to the album from front to back several times, and trust me, it’s incredible. The one thing that stands out about Bonner is that she is not afraid to be herself, which is reflected in her music.
Bonner Black Set Her Sights on Nashville
Strangely, when you meet songwriters in Nashville, most are from somewhere other than Tennessee. However, Bonner Black is a native Tennessean. When Bonner and I started talking for the interview, I told her how much I thought her music had grown since I first saw her play. Black said, “It feels good to hear that, but I don’t know if I always feel that way. But, I have been doing stuff.” Talented and humble is a good combination.
Bonner set her sights on Nashville from a young age. The singer/songwriter said, “I have been in Nashville for eleven years. I moved here a week after I turned seventeen. During high school, my parents homeschooled me, and we lived about an hour and a half south of Nashville. So, my parents were down for me to do anything that kept me out of trouble and away from boys. When I told my mom I wanted to go to Nashville to write songs, she said, get in the van and let’s go. So, I was coming to Nashville three to four days a week beginning my sophomore year of high school.
Can you imagine being seventeen and living in a big city? Black said, “I had been so sheltered; it was a whole new world. It was a wild time and seemed crazy, but it felt like yesterday. But here we are eleven years later.”
Songwriting: The Early Years
With every interview, each songwriter has a story about how they started writing. For Bonner Black, it begins with choosing an instrument to learn. The native Tennessean said, “I would like to say I started writing some when I was six, but it was just scratch stuff. But I didn’t truly begin writing songs until I was twelve or thirteen. My mom had my sister, and I picked an instrument to learn, and I chose the guitar. The first chords I learned were C, F, G, and a couple more in the key of G. Once I had these chords to mess around with, the structure came. I kept them in this folder that I keep with me.” At this point in the interview, Bonner shows me the folder and some of the first songs she wrote. She admitted those first songs were not great, but if we are honest, most of the first songs we write are not good either.
Bonner Black and her Songwriting Evolve
It is safe to say Bonner Black has become a much better songwriter since moving to Nashville, but her music is different as well. Black said, “My music has dramatically changed since I moved to Nashville. My music has evolved, but the core of my songwriting is similar. When I look at my writing from when I was thirteen or fourteen, the theme remains romanticism. My songwriting uses a lot of imagery around nature and descriptive details, such as clothing colors. You see quotes from books I am reading as well. What has evolved is the maturity of my songwriting and the overall sound.”
Since Taylor Swift emerged, Nashville has looked for the next Taylor. Interestingly, that could have been Bonner Black. The singer/songwriter said, “When I started writing, I considered myself a pop-country artist. When I moved to Nashville, Taylor Swift was hot, and this town put me into the same category as Taylor. Until I was twenty, I was doing pop-country. I was in the ASCAP GPS program, and NSAI had me in a program where they picked fifty songwriters for a year to pitch us heavily to get publishing deals. Even though I was getting publishing and label meetings a few days a month for about three years, it was incredibly frustrating. The feedback was always the same: we really like this, but it’s not country radio. This was happening before Spotify and before genre blends were happening. Indie Pop was not a thing yet, so I got discouraged.”
Finding her Sound
After Bonner Black had been in town for about four years, she would pivot and go her own way. Black said, “When I was around twenty-one, I decided to cut the industry bullcrap and began writing by myself. At this point, I moved into this lane of a blend of acoustic southern roots, indie rock, and pop feel. I have honed my sound over the past five or six years, which resulted in “Out of Dreams,” the EP I released in 2022. With the current album, I finally found my sound and the direction I want to go.”
More than a Singer/Songwriter
Bonner Black’s love of music goes beyond singing and writing songs. She had to be on stage, too. The Tennessee native said, “I began taking ballet lessons at four years old and continued ballet until music was my main thing. Being on stage at four years old, I caught the performing bug, too. It wasn’t just, oh, I like writing songs; I wanted to be a musician. It was like, I love dancing, I love movement, I love being on stage. I adored the spotlight on me and people applauding me, and I wanted more of it. But I like everything about music and performance, even the music industry’s strategy.”
Bonner Black Releases “hopeless romANTICS”
Everything about the new album from Bonner Black is clever, starting with how the title appears on the cover art. Strangely, Black never intended to release an album. It just happened! The singer/songwriter said, “It started as my producer, who is my core collaborator, and I were writing most of the songs on the album. We wrote Catch 22 first. Then I went to LA for a couple of weeks, where I wrote “Take Me On.” I also wrote part of “Breaking a Sweat” out there too. After I returned from LA, we started tracking. I liked the production and demos and decided to release some singles. So, we were writing and recording these songs. We had released “Breaking a Sweat” and “Take Me On” and started recording others. So, my producer said, “Why don’t we do an album?”
So many artists are releasing concept albums, but Bonner didn’t initially have a concept. Black said, “As we were picking songs, I think I landed on the idea of “hopeless romANTICs” when I wrote “Love Looks.” One of my jobs is working for Songfinch, where I write custom songs for people. They didn’t choose my song for that project, but I loved it. So we recorded it for the album. As I was looking at this collection of music and listening to them, I thought, damn, I’m such a hopeless romantic. Growing up, my friends always branded me as boy crazy. But since I was homeschooled and sheltered, I was not around boys. However, I loved fairy tales.”
What inspired the album title?
As the album was coming together, a common theme emerged with each song. Bonner said, “As I listened to all these songs I had written, I realized the common theme was me romanticizing people before I even knew them. “I’m Not Your Girl,” “Breaking a Sweat,” and “Take Me On” are all before being in a relationship. It was me putting my heart on the line. In “Catch 22,” there is a lyric, “You know me, heart on my sleeve is the only way I know.” This lyric is the center of it all. I can only be myself with the music I write. In love, I cannot play it cool. There is no game. A lot of the songs are cheeky and silly, which is when I had the idea to capitalize antics because it’s like hopeless romantics, but I’m always on some crazy bullshit.”
For Those Who are New To Bonner Black
Many will relate to her music if you are new to Bonner Black. While listening to this album from top to bottom, I saw myself in some of the songs. Isn’t that the goal for most songwriters? Black said, “I hope you feel seen as you listen to this album. I am completely honest about how I feel and think in my music. However, many of these songs are not therapy recommendations on how to go about dating, but it is my mental process of seeing life and love. Everyone deserves to have their feelings validated. So, I want people to feel seen and also feel good.
Lyrics can speak to you, but a song’s production can steer you into how it makes you feel. For Bonner Black, the production has a purpose. The singer/songwriters said, “With this album, I felt like Rose on the Titanic at the front of the ship with the wind in her hair and arms wide open, and I want people to feel that as they listen to this album. Many people tell me they listen to these songs in the car because it’s supposed to make you feel like a romanticized version of yourself, giving the streetlights a bit of extra sparkle. We tried to do that in the production, too. The production is supposed to make you want to dance. Even Catch-22, a sad song, has a big lift in the chorus. So, I want you to feel soaring like living in a cinematic movie moment.”
Bonner Black Live!
You are in for a treat if you see a live performance from Bonner Black. So, in Bonner’s words, here is what you can expect. The singer/songwriter said, “You should expect me to embarrass myself. Aside from the music, I will be saying many unhinged things. I am on my comedy bit all the time. So expect jokes and awkward moments. However, if you are coming to a singer/songwriter show, it’s just me wooing you with my guitar. If I am with my band, we will dance and have fun. But even if it is me and my guitar, there will be lots of energy. In short, you will get music and a bunch of antics.”
My Thoughts
What I most appreciate about Bonner Black is her authenticity. What you see is what you get. Through the past five years, Bonner and I have crossed paths. Each time, I got a laugh and saw an excellent performance. Her music is fun but meaningful; to me, that’s a winning combination. I encourage you to listen to her new album from top to bottom while reflecting on events in your life. You will find at least one song relatable to your life, if not more. Bonner would appreciate you following her on social media; you never know what antics are in store for you. Tell us about your antics in the dating world in the comments because we all have stories to tell. In the meantime, I will be listening to “hopeless romANTICs” in my car with the wind blowing over my bald head.
