By: Rickelle Hunt

I had the pleasure of getting to chat with the talented unique rising artist Carlie Hanson. At just 18 years old she is all over the grid playing shows in cities across the U.S. If you haven’t heard of this young talented female artist, trust me you will soon. She has paved her way from a small town in Wisconsin working at a Mcdonald’s to currently touring with the iconic and artistic indie band Bad Suns. The gifted singer/songwriter has over 30 million streams collectively on music platforms such as Spotify, Youtube, and Apple Music.

Rickelle: It’s really inspiring to me that you are only 18 years old, I’m 19, do you have any advice for young artists in small towns trying to get discovered?

Carlie: “Uhm, people ask me that and honestly the thing I can say is, I am where I am because I follow my gut, and just constantly being myself and I think that's the best thing you can do and it’s just- be yourself being authentic is key, at least that’s what I think, whatever it is you wanna do just keep fucking practicing, keep going at it, if you really want to do it just don’t stop.”
Rickelle: What has been the most rewarding part about touring with such talented artists such as Yung Blud and Troye Sivan?

Carlie: “When I went on tour with Troye, so my first show ever was May 18th, 2018 I remember because that is my birthday, that was not even a year ago yet so like going on tour with Troye was just like- I could go on stage naked or in a towel and totally be fine. My first performance I was a bit nervous but after the first song I realized just singing in front of so many people and just connecting with that many people and they’re all looking up at you. And like you’re the one thing they’re paying attention too, it’s a very surreal thing and I’m just - it’s what I wanted my whole life since I was very very young so, it’s just really crazy what my life is now.”

Rickelle: Where do you look for inspiration in your songwriting?

Carlie: “Mostly through experience just with girls, boys, friends, family whatever. I like to listen to my friends and take their stories what they are going through and use that in my song writing or anybody close to me, mostly I like to base it off true events.”

Rickelle: I see you’re a big Justin Bieber fan, tell me about the first moment you decided you wanted to be a singer/songwriter?

Carlie: “Yas Justin Bieber, yes baby, uhm well my mom likes to say that when I was like 3 years old I sang ‘I’m a Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child so I always been singing since I was young. But when I really realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life was probably when I discovered Justin Bieber, when I was watching his youtube videos and seeing how young he is and how talented he was, and he was obviously blowing up I just took so much inspiration from that me and all my friends and dove into all his music and just became obsessed. He’s my #1.”

Rickelle: Who are some of your favorite artists? If you could have a dream collab with anyone who would it be and why?”

Carlie: “My favorite artist? Uhhh there is so many, my favorite favorite artist is probably Nirvana, I’m very into rock. My mom took me to a Disturbed concert when i was 10, but One Direction I have been a fan of, Drake I have been obsessed with since I was young, and Tracy Chapman. I really took a lot of inspiration from Pearl Jam, just numerous people and they all have something different about them, I don’t just stick to one genre.”

Rickelle: How does it make you feel when you see the crowd engaging with your performances by singing along to your lyrics?

Carlie: “Honestly like that’s the most fun part because that’s the part where you’re like wow somethings actually happening like this isn’t just on social media like this is a real thing that people are connecting with. So when I see any fan that comes to a show and is singing lyrics to my songs, I really don’t know I can’t put it into words. Because I was that fan, I was that fan that would go to concerts and be singing along to songs and now I’m the artist and people are singing my lyrics it’s very surreal.. It’s fucking crazy.”

Rickelle: What are you most looking forward to on the upcoming ‘Mystic Truth’ Tour with Bad Suns?

Carlie: “I’m in the car right now heading to Houston. I’m most excited to meet new fans, yah always meeting new fans is my favorite thing to look forward to. Now we have been performing new stuff that’s unreleased so I have been having a lot of fun with that. But my favorite is always the last song, “Us” because it just makes everybody put their middle fingers up and bounce and go crazy that’s my favorite part of the whole set.”

Rickelle: Thanks for joining me today Carlie it’s been a pleasure! Do you have anything to say to your fans before wrapping this interview up?

Carlie: “I wanna let everybody know there is going to be a new single out at the end of this month. And shortly after i’ll be dropping an EP finally, but I have been working very hard on it I’m super super super pumped for the world to hear and yeah, that’s all I have to say!

Hanson’s stage presence is so energetic and vibrant she effortlessly gets the audience to engage in her passionate performance with her jaw-dropping talents. She just recently dropped a single called ‘Back in My Arms’ stream it on all music platforms now! Catch Carlie in a city near you on the 2019 Mystic Truth Tour as she joins Bad Suns to open the show. You can find tickets here!

- 5/06 VANCOUVER, BC @ Venue

- 5/07 SEATTLE, WA @ Neptune

- 5/09 SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Fillmore

- 5/10 SANTA ANA, CA @ Observatory

- 5/11 LOS ANGELES, CA @ Wiltern