Tanner Adell on Being a Country ‘Enigma,’ Beyoncé and Mormonism (Exclusive)

Tanner Adell is just getting started.

The Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who is featured as one of PEOPLE’s 2024 Ones to Watch in music, has taken country music by storm through her genre-bending sound, bold fashion choices and unapologetic demeanor.

“I tend to be on the more unique side of country music. It’s definitely not traditional, but I am just expressing myself, you know? I’m not trying to be this or that, it just is who I am,” Adell, 28, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

In the past year, Adell was featured on Beyoncé‘s Grammy-nominated album Cowboy Carter. She sang on “BLACKBIIRD” alongside Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts and Tiera Kennedy. Her song “Too Easy” also made it onto the star-studded Twisters soundtrack.

Now, the “Whiskey Blues” singer is on the road for her Buckle Bunny tour — which is in support of her 2023 debut album — through Dec. 13.

Her musical accomplishments aside, there’s much to know about Adell. She was adopted at birth and raised in the Mormon church (which she has since left). And despite her confidence onstage, Adell was the shy girl growing up who, despite how hard she tried to fit in, always stood out.

Get to know rising country star below.

How did you get started in music?

It was always my dream to do this, but as a kid, my parents were always encouraging me to sing in church and join the school choir. I was really shy, but my dad was always trying to get me to audition for the school musical. I would try for a cute side part, and I would always end up getting a lead part in the choir. I tried to blend in, and it just never really worked.

I had a voice teacher that I got my first year of college, and she kind of trained that out of me. My voice coach was like, ‘You shouldn’t be in school. You can already do these things. School’s not going to help you with what you should be doing, which is going out there and being a full-time artist.’

She helped me decide: “Where do I go for this?” There’s only a couple of places you can go if you want to do music full-time, and wanting to do country music, Nashville ended up being the right choice. I mean, it’s amazing here. I’ve been here for three years.

How did you find your sound?

It’s honestly not something that I tried to do. I think I’m very opinionated with my music and with lyrics. So whenever I was in the room with producers or other writers, I was just very, I guess, open with my opinion of how I wanted it to sound. And it took some time to find people who could do what I wanted for real in Nashville. I’m kind of an enigma; it hasn’t been done before, what I’m doing, especially with a female.

Trial and error. I have things that lean on the country side, a lot more country, and things that lean a lot more on the pop side, and then things that are kind of just a perfect blend.

Who was your first live music experience?

Oh, it was One Direction. It was my best friend’s birthday and her parents got her 10 tickets to One Direction and she took a bunch of us. We were probably like, 11, maybe, very young. … I cried. They’re great. I’ve watched their documentary a couple of weeks ago when Liam passed away, and I mean, they’re just amazing. I think it was a great first [concert] … They took my live music virginity!

The country music community is so tight-knit. Who is someone you’ve found a friend in?

There’s a lot of people that come to mind. One, Lainey Wilson. We’ve just been around each other a lot this year. We are both on the Twisters soundtrack, and so we did a couple of things together. Being able to sit down with her and just being a woman in country music, doesn’t matter what color you are, but just being female in country music is really hard. Girls get less radio play, and they get less opportunities and touring opportunities. She has worked her ass off to get to where she is now, and now she’s one of the leading females in country music. Sitting down, being able to talk to her, she’s someone that I can text at any time if I needed anything, I could call her frustrated or excited. She’s been there for me.

What was your reaction when you found out you were going to sing on “BLACKBIIRD”?

I was shocked, excited, but also at the same time, I had a pretty big hunch that she would probably be including some girls from Nashville, and I thought there’s a good chance it was going to be me. So I was excited, but also like, I was kind of planning for it.

How did that process unfold?

I can’t talk about the process of it, but it’s more personal than anything. It wasn’t like a Craigslist ad.

So what was the best part of that experience?

I think it came at such a great time for me. I have been working very hard out here and growing what I believe is a really dedicated and sweet and passionate fan base. So there were a lot of people who were already fighting for me and on my side. When Beyoncé dropped those two songs at the Super Bowl, the fan reaction was immediate… my fans were so on it. So it was interesting to see as that month between the Super Bowl and the album… how my community grew, but also kind of bonded as well.

I think that’s also kind of a different experience that I had with it. I wasn’t discovered off of the album. I was already doing my own thing, and it was kind of the biggest co-sign in the world.

Tell me about your latest song release, “Religion.”

That was a really specific experience. That song took, I wrote it in one day, but it took almost a year to for that idea to even come fully all the way around. I had had an experience that kind of caused me to have to restart with everything that I believed in. I was raised very strict, religious Mormon, and I came to some realizations that just kind of blew up my whole belief system.

Over the course of a year [I] was healing, and [it] had been on my mind, it was kind of all I was thinking about, I would just randomly burst into tears because of it, and about a year later was when I wrote “Religion.”

It was a year of healing for me, and it was just the right time, with the right person. I wrote it with a girl named Parker, and she also had some religious trauma and had helped me through that year, and she’s also a writer. We got together, and she said, “Are you ready to write about what you’ve been going through?” And I wasn’t. I was like, “No, but maybe we should.” And we wrote that in a couple of hours together.

Are you still a part of the Mormon Church?

No, I’m not practicing. My family is still practicing, but they love me just the same and support me, and they’re my biggest fans, and they love coming to my shows, and they’re just proud of me, and proud that I’m living my dream.

I think everyone goes through whatever they’re supposed to. My story is lengthy and complicated, but I have four siblings. We’re all adopted, and I was adopted into this situation, it’s how I was raised. But it’s given me a lot of self-discipline, I think. I think I’m a really hard worker because of it, and I’ve had experiences with the church that have made me who I am today.

What was your adoption experience like?

I was like a day old. I was very young. The agreement was made before I was born.

I’m one of five. Both of my parents are white. All my siblings are biracial. It wasn’t planned, it just happened that way. My parents couldn’t have their own children and adopted, although my mom always wanted kids … she had always wanted to adopt, and then ended up adopting five babies. None of us are related by blood or anything, but yeah, we all kind of have our own little thing.

My family found me three years ago, my birth family. So it’s all new to me, and I’m learning.

What are you currently working on?

I’m a workaholic. It’s very hard for me to stop and not do things. Amidst everything that I’m doing currently, I’m writing an album. So I’m working on that, and hoping that is beginning of next year.

It’s been in the works, really focused writing, for about a year. And there are a couple songs that I’ve written on there that I didn’t know if they would ever see the light of day because they’re very personal, and very dark and deep, but they will be on this album as well. It’s going to be telling my story.

What does a “you day” look like?

Oh, a day off. I am smoking weed, and I’m playing my Nintendo Switch. That is my ideal day off.