Daisy Briggs is on her way to the top with the release of her debut single, “Once Upon a Time in a Small Town.”
The up-and-coming, Newport born and raised, Nashville based singer-songwriter showcases a knack for blending the energy and ease of pop music with the narrative soul of classic country.
“Once Upon a Time in a Small Town” presents a compelling tale of summer love and loss in a tiny, oceanside town. “The song’s main themes are romance and nostalgia,” says Briggs. “The feeling of looking back and remembering a time when you could be in love just for a summer and then move on with your life. I was imagining how that brief, incredible connection—the kind of summer fling that sticks with you—might always be alive in the small town where it happened.”
“Once Upon a Time in a Small Town” celebrates the bittersweet beauty of summer love and its inevitable end, through tight and emotionally stirring lyrical lines: “We can’t fix it / we only existed / once upon a time in a small town.”
The song’s storyline is set in the artist’s hometown of Newport, Rhode Island, where Briggs grew up with a menagerie of rescued pets and various farm animals before moving to Nashville at 18 to pursue a career in country music. The track’s vibrant, catchy melodies highlight Brigg’s uniquely pure vocal style, reminiscent of artists like Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert, enhanced by driving, radio-friendly beats and glossy production by producer Jake Saghi (Kidd G, Leah Marie Mason). But despite its polished facade, “Once Upon a Time in a Small Town” is, at heart, an intimately narrative country song, following the trajectory of a fictional relationship inspired by countless similar instances of real-life love and loss. “Newport is the kind of town that comes alive in the summers,” says Briggs. “It’s also the kind of place where most people grow up, settle down, and never leave. So the ones who do have to leave things behind.”
For as long as Briggs can remember, music has always been the plan. Briggs wrote her first series of songs back in middle school when she was a student at St. Michael’s Country Day School. “At that time, I was in chorus and played the trumpet and I just began to write and write and write” Briggs recalls. “That’s when my mother bought me my first guitar.”
“At the time I was painfully shy but determined. I told my mother to force me to play when she’d have friends at the house so I could work through the nerves and the shyness.”
A real breakthrough for Briggs was a visit to Nashville at the age of 14 where she mustered up the courage to jump on stage and play an open mic at the iconic Bluebird Cafe where Taylor Swift was known for getting her start.
“It just felt right,” Briggs said. “That’s when music became Plan A and I don’t have a Plan B. I’ve found that people with a Plan B usually never follow through on Plan A.”
If her debut single is any indication, Briggs Briggs should start planning for a long and fruitful career in the music business. And something tells us, we’ll be seeing Briggs playing the Newport Folk Festival in no time.
Remember kids, follow your dreams!
The first of several forthcoming singles from Daisy Briggs, “Once Upon a Time in a Small Town” is now available for streaming and purchase on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and other streaming services.
An accompanying music video designed by and starring Briggs will debut on Monday, September 13th.
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