We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

Canadian country singer Alli Walker is inviting fans to come along the journey of growing up, healing, and thriving with the release of her sophomore album, aptly titled ‘Growing Up.’ The eight-track project boasts catchy, weekend-ready jams like “Red Wine or Whiskey” and “Maybe I’m Still Drunk” and leans into more vulnerable moments on songs like the album’s title track.

In the past few months leading up to its release, Alli has hit multiple milestones in her career, including being named Spotify’s Radar Artist on the Horizon and being nominated for the second time at the CMAOntario Awards in the Rising Star category. This summer, you can catch Alli dominating the stage at Boots and Hearts and her hometown Cavendish Beach Music Festival with artists like Chris Stapleton, Madeline Merlo, and Tim McGraw (who she’s also manifesting to meet!).

In this edition of Love at First Listen, Alli talks all things growing up, trusting her TikTok followers, and living in the moment.

It’s New Music Friday and we’re celebrating your new album and single of the same name, ‘Growing Up.’ How are you feeling?

It’s very exciting. This is my first full project since 2019. I’m on my phone 24/7 looking at what’s going on, all these Instagram story tags, and everything like that. It’s nice to see the growth of me as an artist and the music, and it’s really cool to see my face on the cover of different playlists that I only ever dreamt of being on. I’m very grateful.

Your first album was called ‘The Basement Sessions: What I’ve Learned So Far,’ and ‘Growing Up’ represents another set of lessons learned. How have you grown personally and professionally since 2019, and how is it reflected in this album?

My first album was very much what I was going through in my 20s ­— navigating my mental health, comparing myself to everybody on social media, wondering if I should be doing this music thing because it’s really hard, and learning to love myself. I was very mindful about writing what’s going on in my life and in my head in the moment. ‘Growing Up’ is a continuation of that. I added a few fun songs because I’m enjoying life more now and I’m not so in my head. But there are also songs like “Growing Up” about the aspect of growing up where I didn’t realize it was going to be this way ­— where I’ve been away from my parents, and my parents are getting older, and I just realize how much time I’ve missed while I’ve been away chasing this crazy dream. No matter what, I’m always going to be writing about what’s actually going on in my life, and I’m glad I stuck with that for this album.

Each song on the album was released separately as a single, starting with “Country Music” in 2021. How did you select the final tracklist?

I find a lot of people don’t listen to full albums anymore unless you’re a massive artist. So, as an independent artist, I wanted to make sure each song had its own life because each song has its own meaning. I’m also very visual, so I wanted to have a music video for every single. I was so glad to have something where people can watch and wonder and see how the song comes to life. I wanted to put it all together in album form at the end, and when I was deciding the order I just did what felt right.

Your TikTok followers helped you decide which songs to record for the album. Was there a song you teased where the response from fans really caught you by surprise?

I feel like as an artist you think, “This one’s going to do really well,” or the music industry tells you, “This is your hit,” and it’s always the opposite! Although I loved “Red Wine or Whiskey” and I thought people would love it, I didn’t realize it would pop off. TikTok is so great for music fans because people listen with sound and they actually click the link in your bio and go stream your songs, so with that one I saw it did well on TikTok and then on Spotify and Apple Music too.

On “Country Music,” you reference several country classics, including Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine” and “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts. Were you keeping track of the different songs you wanted to tie in or did they all come to you at once?

When I was able to get back to in-person sessions, I had my two co-writers and friends, Brian John Harwood and Dustin Bird, come over for a few weekends to work on the album. I really wanted to write a song about country music and how I grew up on it and how much I love it, but I didn’t want it to just say, “I love country music.” So, I thought we could make it really difficult on ourselves and weave together all of the songs that we grew up on. We pulled up Spotify, sorted through almost 90 playlists, and picked songs that meant something special to us. It really was just an in the moment thing and we pulled it all together really well.

“Sand in My Boots” is the female perspective of a Morgan Wallen track. What inspired you to respond to Morgan’s song and story?

The same day Morgan put his out, my husband and I wrote the female version, did a demo recording, and popped it up on TikTok. I don’t think I really had any followers at that time, but it blew up because people love Morgan but they were also so invested in the storyline. There was so much chatter in the comments where it was like, well, you know, she left him! I had messages from people for an entire year telling me to record this song and put it out. I didn’t own any rights to the song, so there was a whole process of getting the legal side of things sorted. I’m glad fans stayed invested and finally have it because it’s one of my favourites.

You’ve described ‘Growing Up’ as your autobiography. Can you share some of the country artists you’ve loved at first listen who inspire you with their own autobiographical songwriting?

There are so many. I really love Megan Moroney. She’s so honest and brutal, and she gives me Kacey Musgraves or Maren Morris vibes. Ashley Cooke, love her. Her voice is just so soft and easy to listen to. I also just want to be friends with her. Bailey Zimmerman, too. These are all TikTok people! I feel like I spend all my time on there.

How are you celebrating the release of ‘Growing Up’?

I never spend time celebrating and always just move on to the next thing, so this time I wanted to actually live in the moment and enjoy it. I woke up on release day and my parents and my husband had big “congratulations” balloons on the wall. I also love champagne and I’ve been waiting for years to have it when I had a big moment to celebrate. So, we got champagne and then went to The Keg for dinner, which is my favourite restaurant. In a week, I’ll be going right back to Nashville to record new music and see people on the road soon.

Do you have a favourite song from the album that you’re looking forward to performing?

I think “Country Music” because even if you have never heard the song before, the tag of it ­— “I grew up on country music” ­— is so easy to remember. I usually teach it to people beforehand and then we all sing it together at the end of each chorus, so that’s always my favourite one to play.