[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, everyone.
“It's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk Nashville,”
and joining me today is Asian American Rising
Country Artist, Bella Lam. Bella is a true Tennessee, and that was born in Nashville, and she just released her new single, Take It Out On My Guitar. Join us for our conversation today. This isn't "I Heart Podcast."
Guaranteed Human. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dick and Paul show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers, but there are certain things that we don't necessarily
understand. Better version of "Plays David Games" when "Stupid Brises." Yes, which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was.
I got that wrong. But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close, though. Listen to the Nick Dick and Paul show on the "I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts."
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- Welcome to "Taken a Walk Nashville." With your hosts, singer, songwriters, Sarah Harrelson. - Bella, thank you so much for joining me today on "Taken a Walk Nashville." So you are a true Tennessee Inn.
You were born in Nashville. You've lived in the Memphis area and now you spend a lot of time and chat in New York. Do you have a favorite place or a favorite city
in Tennessee since you've been all over? - I like different parts. I like different parts. So I would say the best part of being in Memphis is the food. - Yes.
- I will say I love chatting New York to death. Their barbecue cannot top West Tennessee barbecue.
It's always better in West Tennessee.
But I just love the, how different chatting New York is and how like city it is, but also like, there's so much walking in nature and it's like city, but also there's Tennessee, you know? - Yeah, that's so true.
Yeah, I live in Nashville now, but I'm originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. So I love how each part of Tennessee has its own flavor. Like you said, if you want a good barbecue, you go to Memphis, if you want a good hiking,
you go to East Tennessee. So I love that you're at Tennessee Inn. And your latest single, "Take it out on my guitar," was released on February 13th. You corrode it with Lauren McGlam.
And she's written songs for your expitantly in Dylan, Marlowe, and also corrode it with Chris Ruffetto. And he's written for Eddie Montgomery and Emmy Russell. This is just such a fun song. And it lets people know that during a breakup,
you know, sometimes revenge isn't the best course of action, sometimes it's just a song. They can't escape and you definitely can't escape this melody. So in support of this new single, you launched a ride at Don't Text at Campaign.
It's interactive, based breakup, hotline design for fans, who still have something to say. So fans can call a number that's listed on your socials to vent and share exactly what they would tell their acts. And I've been watching some of these messages
on your TikTok that fans have sent you. And some of the stories are insane. Are you surprising by what you've been getting? - Absolutely. The first one I feel like was a good way to jump in
'cause it was like, it's a breakup story. It's just like, it was a breakup story. The rest of them, however, they have progressively gotten crazier and crazier and crazier. I just posted probably the saddest one
that I've gotten so far yesterday. And I just love that it's a mix of,
well, I'm never gonna call this guy again to,
I don't really care about the breakup, but let me tell you how it went down because it's just like genuinely, how did that happen to me to just like very sad and very make your heart go out?
What did I just witness? And I think my favorite part of it is that, you know, a country music is all about storytelling and I wanted to find a way to kind of involve the fans in this release and give them a way to interact with me.
“And I think that this was a really fun way to do it”
because, like I said, storytelling and just being able to share their stories with me, like I share my stories with them was a really, really fun way to do it. - Yeah, I think it's a great way for people
to get their feelings about these crazy stories out
And, you know, some of the sad things
they went through with breakups
and, you know, have people kind of share similar stories that they went through that's very relatable. And I think it's just in general, that, you know, the song is so catchy and fun, but it's also like a good reminder
that there can be therapeutic ways to get over breakups instead of, you know, going with revenge or anger. - You don't got to trash his car, I'm sorry, Carrie. Sorry, you can read a song about it, right?
Yeah, make you feel better, probably. - Yeah, absolutely.
“And you're releasing a music video for the song soon, correct?”
- Yeah, I'm very excited. We're doing a watch part of over my TikTok page and it's gonna be a lot of fun. I think it was very good way to embody take it out on my guitar, especially when you,
when you watch the music video,
you don't get it, it's very exciting. - Very cool, we'll look out for that. Where did you shoot the music video? - South 40 in Franklin, it was like this big farmland and a lot of the, all of the music video actually,
I was standing on my director's car just so they could get the shot of making it look like I was standing on a guitar. So, I spent a good, probably two days did it go on a car.
- Yeah, it looks really cool 'cause it really looks like you're sitting on a giant guitar. - Oh, absolutely, it's so much fun and towards the end of the music video, it gets a little hot and they are so excited.
- Very excited.
“- Well, we will definitely check out the music video”
for take it out on my guitar.
So, Bella, I read that when you were growing up,
you had to overcome a speech impediment to become a singer. What was that journey like for you? Because we see a lot of cases where, you know, someone with a speech impediment
when they sing, sometimes it goes away. Was that kind of a similar case for you or was it more of a difficult learning challenge? - Yeah, so all throughout elementary school, middle school and like halfway through high school,
I had a really heavy list. You can still kind of hear it but I've worked on it so much that it kind of just like, people don't notice it until I pointed out anymore.
But yeah, it was when I was singing, you could hear it too. There's clips of me in high school and middle school and musical theater and you could hear it like so heavy. It took a lot, it took a lot of speech therapy.
I also had very bad motor skills.
“So, even playing the guitar was difficult”
because for the longest time, I had like really bad tremors and I still can't hold a pen correctly. I hold it real funny. But it was a lot of speech therapy, a lot of occupational therapy.
And now I can play the guitar without shaking and I can sing without people having to go with the world of she's saying. So, I like to say that if you're dreaming of something that kind of feels impossible, if you work hard enough
and if you love it enough, you can do it. - Absolutely, I think that's beautiful and definitely anything you set your mind to. I think you can overcome it. - Absolutely, I agree. - I agree, Dory.
- So, you have a ton of shows coming up in East Tennessee, Chattanooga and Georgia. People can find your shows on your website, BellaLammusic.com. What are you most looking forward to this year?
- Oh, well, I will say the release show was a lot of fun. We did that at songbirds here in Chattanooga. That's such an iconic venue already. I was already so excited about it. This weekend, we're doing Doc Holidays in Chattanooga
and then Peachy's Pub and Rome, which Luke Cums played at Peachy's Pub before he got big. So, I'm like, "Lusom, I'm mind over that one." And just so many, I played the hard rock. I play, I'm gonna play at the Wrangled Operry
and there's just so many fun things that are coming up. - Yeah, you have a lot of shows on the lineup this year, so people can definitely come and see you. So, speaking of shows, musicians often talk about their most memorable gigs and your most memorable show
was not really memorable in a good way. So, you said that you performed at a dev hunt, had to play in a pig pen and all of your band members got shot by the dev hunters during the performance. - Wow, that sounds awful and sounds like it's still been a lawsuit.
- Somehow, I was the only one that did not get hit. - Wow. - Yeah, so we were in this pig pen and it was towards the house. I don't think they were supposed to be shooting towards us, but you know, you give young boys guns
and they see a dove fly over somewhere they're just gonna shoot wherever they see a dove. And my mom, she comes to all of my shows. She sits to the side 'cause my dad plays lead guitar for me. And she was just an off-the-side next to our sound guy,
talking to him and making sure the sound sounded right. And she got hit with buck shot and her leg. - Oh my God. - Oh, bad, it was like embedded in her leg. And yeah, definitely a crazy show.
We had to put like pieces of wood in the pig pen
'cause the ground was so uneven.
And if we wanted to like make the drum kits sit even
“and make sure I didn't fall on my face while I was dancing around,”
we had to like make sure it was a little more even, but it was genuinely the most memorable. And I still talk about it with, since then we've had a lot of changes in our band. So we have people in our band who did not experience that
and every time I bring it up, I'm like, they're like, how did you, how did you do that? - Yeah, that's why, and if someone is, if people are hunting, it seems like they weren't able to hear the live music anyway.
- Well, I think what it was was they, the men and the boys were going out into the fields and hunting and they had food and like, we were near the food and they had like cornholns, stuff like that, set up too.
So it was, it looked like it was fun for them, but, wow, it was the experience for us. - Yeah, definitely stay away from any sort of hunting. - They were like trying to give away the food to their guests and I went in there to throw some of our trash away
so we wouldn't leave like trash everywhere. And one of the ladies that was just in there
“was like, do you want some mac and cheese?”
And I was like, sure, and she just hands me a ziplock bag full of mac and cheese. - So, well, at least you got some food out of it. - Yeah, yeah, my bandmates were throwing bags in mac and cheese at each other after that.
I was like, great. - Oh my goodness, yeah, that's quite the memorable gig. You said your dad was playing guitar with you does he still play with you? - Yes, he does, he plays all of our gigs currently.
- Oh, that's so exciting. I must be so fun to be able to perform on stage with your dad. - Oh, absolutely. He taught me how to play the guitar, too, and he's the big reason why I wanted to do music
in the first place. I grew up, my dad, he's probably the smartest person I know. He went to medical school when he was in pre-med. He also got his music degree, and I'm like, well, genuinely the smartest person I know.
I'm probably 75% of the way done with my degree, and I'm like, I don't know how you do doctor and music at the same time.
“I can fairly do music and music at the same time.”
- Yeah, that is wild, yeah. Well, people can definitely look forward to your upcoming shows, and music. Do you have any more upcoming music releases for this year for fans?
- We're working on an EP, maybe an album, but I'm gonna keep that little close to my heart right now. - Awesome, well, we are looking forward to it. And I hope everyone will listen to your new single, take it out on my guitar.
So, Bella, this is a question I always love to ask my guest
on taking a walk Nashville. You spend some time in Nashville. Do you have a favorite place? You like to take a walk in Nashville? - Ooh, I gotta think about this one.
I'm usually like in the more like touristy spots of Nashville, I'm up there just because every time I'm up there, I'm up there with my family and friends, but I really love music grow. I like walking down to Montréal
because there's just so many fun things that you can see. - And yeah, I probably say there. - Yeah, I put a few people answer that. Sometimes they say, you know, they just are, you know, bewildered by the change
that has happened on music grow. How a lot of the studios have been turned into high rises and condo, so it's definitely changed, but there's still a lot of historic buildings and studios that you can walk down.
So I think that's a great place. And jad a new good too, jad a new guest such great hiking,
I always love going there, we're hiking.
- I always like biking when I need to go somewhere and walking when I need to go somewhere instead of like driving there just because it's so, it's called the scenic city for a reason. - Absolutely, yeah, rock city.
Bella, thank you so much for being on taking a walk in Nashville today if people want to follow you, work and they find you on social media. - All of my socials are at its Bella Lam,
ITS, B-E-L-A-L-A-L-A-N, and then my website would be BellaLamusic.com. - Perfect, yeah, and I'm sure we can look forward to more messages, video messages for you on TikTok for the ride at Don't Text at Campaign.
I've definitely been enjoying those. Thank you for, again, for being on taking a walk in Nashville today. - Thank you for having me. - Thanks for listening to Taken a Walk in Nashville
with Sarah Harrelson. Please check out our other shows, produced by Buzz Night Media Productions. The comedy saved me and music saved me, hosted by Lynn Hoffman and Taken a Walk,
hosted by yours truly Buzz Night. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are part of the I-Hard Podcast Network. - On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dicken Poll show are geniuses.
We can explain how AI works, data centers,
There are certain things that we don't necessarily understand.
- Better version of Play-Stupid Games
when stupid prizes. - Yes.
“- Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that”
for the first time.
- I actually thought it was.
- I got that wrong. - But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close though.
Listen to the Nick Dick and Poll show
on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Welcome check this.
“- I-Hard and TikTok have come together to create something new.”
- I love it. - We're the world of TikTok meets your playlist. - Three words that will change your life. - I-Hard TikTok Radio. The biggest hits across I-Hard Radio.
- What's trending for you on TikTok?
“- Tell me a sound that's better than this.”
- I-Hard TikTok Radio. - Plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Search for I-Hard TikTok Radio. Make it a preset and stay connected all day.
