From Puppets to Songs: Darci Lynne on Discovering Songwriting and Sticking to Her Ventriloquist Roots as 'AGT' Champ (2024)

Years after her run onAmerica’s Got Talent(AGT), where she became the youngest contestant to win the show at the age of 12 with her ventriloquist act in 2017, Darci Lynne started exploring her other passion, music, and chronicled some of her real-life experiences into song, including a more rebellious streak on her debut single “Push Our Luck.”

Recorded at Yackland Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, “Push Our Luck” is centered around “first-time feelings when you’re out on a date,” said the Oklahoma native, and is based on her personal experience of breaking curfew, and pressing her luck. “I think most of us have stayed out after curfew because we were having so much fun,” said the 19-year-old singer and songwriter. “So I hope when people listen to this song they’re brought back to a moment, a person, or a time where they pushed their luck.”

Along with “Push Our Luck,” in 2023 Lynne also released a video for another original song, “My Thing,” along with contributing the song “Just Breathe” to the 2022 Netflix filmA Cowgirl’s Song, in which she also starred in. “Just Breathe” was co-written with Maggie McClure and Shane Henry, the husband-and-wifeduo known as The Imaginaries, who also co-wrote “Push Our Luck” with Lynne.

“I think the thread between the new songs is that they’re all instances and moments and stories that I’m going through right now,” Lynne tells American Songwriter.

Following her initial AGT win, Lynne played a sold-out tour in 2018, and even performed at theGrand Ole Opry. Bringing her ventriloquist act back to TV, Lynne recently joined the AGT spin-offAmerica’s Got Talent: Fantasy League, where she recently put her puppets down and shared a solo performance of “Push Our Luck.”

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American Songwriter: How did “Push Our Luck” start piecing together? Was there a moment in between competing on America’s Got Talent when you just started writing?

Darci Lynne: I was on the road for quite a while after America’s Got Talent and then [the pandemic] happened and all my shows were canceled or postponed. I had not been home for a couple of years and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I never had time to try writing music and in quarantine, I took it upon myself to do it. This was something I’ve always really wanted to try and I’ve just never had the time.

I came to love it, and I got introduced to artists and writers and I got to collaborate with people in Nashville, writing a lot over the last three or four years. It has become such a passion of mine. I started writing this song [“Push Our Luck”] last year, and it’s about a real-life experience. I was sort of dating this one boy and the song came about.

AS: You’ve also worked with Maggie McClure and Shane Henry before on “Just Breathe.” What is it that works in this collaboration between the three of you?

DL: I worked with Maggie and Shane on the movie I was in, A Cowgirl’s Song, and I got to write a song for the soundtrack. They’ve taken me under their wing on several occasions. I had the song [“Push Our Luck”] written and brought it to them and they helped me piece it together.

I write on my own almost every day but they’ve been a staple for me. They’re also such good friends of mine, but there are lots of writers that I brought concepts to. There’s a song that I wrote two months ago called “After Midnight” with a guy named Josh Roberts. There are lots of awesome people that I’ve met within the Oklahoma City writing community.

AS: “Push Our Luck” has more of a rock sound. Is that how you imagined the song to sound when it was coming together?

DL: I originally wrote it on guitar, acoustically, and the song does have an aspect of that country feel, but I envisioned the song with a full band and a rock vibe because the story itself, towards the end, moves quickly. My curfew was midnight, but I definitely pushed that with this one boy because I really liked him. I feel like that’s a universal thing, so I wanted the song as a whole to have that feeling of anticipation at the end.

AS: I think we’re all guilty of breaking curfew at some point in our young lives.

DL: It happens to the best of us.

AS: At this stage, how would you describe yourself as a songwriter? Is it a melody, a chorus, or a phrase that’s been stuck in your head that often leads to a song?

DL: I feel like I’ve done it 100 different ways, but the most common way my thoughts come about is through journaling. And I journal in a very poetic way. I also write poetry. I’ll take moments that I go through and write two or three journal pages about it. Rhymes are sprinkled in. It can flourish from my journaling or whatever poetry I write, but I’ve also had a melody in mind and put words to it.

AS: What music do you find yourself gravitating toward and inspiring you, your songs, and the direction you may want to go, musically?

DL: I grew up listening to a very eclectic group of artists and genres. One of my favorite albums of all time is At Last! (1960) by Etta James. I also grew up on ’80s rock from my parents, but what’s inspired me lately—or at least over the last year—has been Chris Stapleton, Norah Jones, and even Joan Jett and Lainey Wilson. It’s very eclectic, and it all drives me.

AS: Is all of this writing leading up to a full album?

DL: I’m hoping to release an EP later this year. I’m only 19 years old, and like every other 19-year-old, I have no idea what I’m doing right now, especially with music. I’m trying to write what comes out of me, and I’m still trying to figure out my specific sound and what that’s going to end up being. But I also don’t like being put in a box.

AS: It is easy to release a song and immediately be labeled a “country” or other artist and put in a particular “box” or genre.

DL: It’s my mantra to not be put in a box and with the ventriloquism that I did on AGT … I’ve done it for nine years now, and everyone’s told me to stay in that lane, so that’s why this music is so important to me. It’s such a passion of mine, and there’s no reason for me not to want to explore something outside of it and show people that there’s more to me than just ventriloquism.

AS: Do you still enjoy ventriloquism?

DL: Absolutely. I feel like the puppets and ventriloquism are on the backburner right now because I’m so focused musically, but it’s always gonna be a part of me. And there’s not an ounce of me that wants to change that, because it got me to this point.

I would never be here if it wasn’t for going on America’s Got Talent. It brought me here.