How Bailey Zimmerman's breakup songs made him country's breakout star
Bailey Zimmerman wasn't looking to become a country star on the night he posted the video that made him one.
Having built a sizable following on TikTok with clips about custom-built trucks, the small-town Illinois native says he was just trying to help out a songwriter pal by recording himself performing a tune they'd written together.
"I was like, 'I've got views, so maybe we could get your songs to somebody to sing 'em,'" Zimmerman, 23, recalls today. Instead, the no-frills performance of "" — a grungy kiss-off to a cheating ex that he co-wrote in late 2020 with his friend Gavin Lucas — went viral overnight and quickly led to Zimmerman's moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and signing," "" and "Religiously," the namesake track from his debut LP, "Religiously. The Album," and is on the road opening stadium concerts for . He's also widely tipped as a contender for a best new artist nomination at the Grammys.
