Multitalented Oklahoman Darci Lynne is showing off new sides of herself as a person and musician with her stirring new single “Someone Wake Me Up.”
The Oklahoma City singer-songwriter, ventriloquist and actress, who was just 12 years old when she won the 12th season of "America's Got Talent" in 2017, released the yearning new ballad Friday, Aug. 23, as the follow-up to her debut single, the spirited country-rock story song "Push Our Luck."
"I feel like I'm honestly just like every other 19-year-old right now, just trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do for the rest of my life — and music just plays a huge part in that. And it's just something you grow in," she told The Oklahoman in an Aug. 27 Zoom interview.
"With 'Push Our Luck,' it was definitely written in that country genre. But 'Someone Wake Me Up' is definitely a little different. It leans more pop-soul. ... I've always been soulful and an old soul, but I definitely feel like it's starting to come out more as I write."
The 2023 Deer Creek High School graduate, who gained television fame as a shy singing ventriloquist on "AGT," has been exploring a new phase in her musical career this year, appearing without her trusty puppets on the semifinals of the NBC spin-off series "America's Got Talent: Fantasy League" as well as in her award-winning music video for "Push Our Luck."
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As with "Push Our Luck," Darci Lynne — whose full name is Darci Lynne Farmer — wrote "Someone Wake Me Up" with fellow Oklahomans Maggie McClure and Shane Henry, the husband-and-wife duo known as The Imaginaries.
"Ever since we met her, she has a natural, soulful voice. The soul tendencies, that's really her sound. A lot of the other songs that we've written and recorded for her, I would say, all really fit more in the pocket of 'Someone Wake Me Up,'" said Henry, who joined the Zoom interview with his wife and Darci Lynne.
The teenage singer-songwriter first collaborated with The Imaginaries while making the inspirational movie "A Cowgirl's Song," which filmed in and around Chickasha in 2021.
"It's been really a joy to get to write and record with Darci and produce her and just help her through this process, as she's figuring out her sound and her style. She's just so talented. We we just love working with her, and it reminds us of how we were at her age," McClure said.
Darci Lynne and The Imaginaries will attend the Oklahoma premiere of the new movie "Reagan" Wednesday, Aug. 28, in Edmond. Filmed primarily in nearby Guthrie, the biopic of the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan will open Friday, Aug. 30, in cinemas nationwide. The Imaginaries make an onscreen appearance and have a new cover of Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You" on the soundtrack, while Darci Lynne plays a small role in the film.
Here's what the "America's Got Talent" champion had to say about her new single and upcoming tour plans:
Q: How did the hopeful vibe of 'Someone Wake Me Up' come about?
When I had started the song and then brought it to Maggie and Shane, I had been on a couple of dates with boys. And a lot of it was just not of any substance, or just didn't really go well. ... I wrote it to just write a hopeful song, that I still believe in true love. ... It's a hopeful, but also kind of a cheeky song.
Q: Can you talk about the bond you've built with The Imaginaries?
After 'Cowgirl's Song' ... I got to go spend my first amount of real time in Nashville with Maggie and Shane, and that was about two years ago. That's when we visited this song, so it's just really cool to see the song grow up with us a bit in our relationship — and then see it come out, too. ...
I'll start writing a song, and I'll have no idea what I'm playing, just because I'm learning along the way. So, I'll just play chords and be like, 'That sounds really nice together.' But then, they have such music brains that have just done this for so long, so they know, 'Maybe this chord would sound better than that chord' or whatever. They have such creative minds, so it's nice to be able to learn that process. ... It also does help that they're like lovebirds on their own.
Q: What are your thoughts on how your debut single was received?
Honestly, I was just really excited to get it out there, 'cause whether country was gonna be the pathway I went down, I just wrote 'Push Our Luck' with how I was writing then. And I was just excited and eager to invite everyone who's followed me up 'til now into this new space. ...
I was excited to just get it out there and start the journey, because it's such a such a long evolution process. So, it was just really cool. The responses were so positive, and the support was awesome.
But of course, there were a couple of people who were like, 'Uh, stick to the puppets,' or whatever. You can't please everybody, but it was nothing but wonderful and positive.
Q: What's next for you?
Well, I'm also trying right now to figure out my next steps with music, but I'm pretty positive that I'm gonna release another single, hopefully.
But I'm also in the process of writing a new show, and I'm gonna take it out in January with the puppets. I'll be playing original music, too, when I go out. ... Since I started touring when I was 13, I've always, in my show, sang with my mouth closed and then with my mouth open. So, it'll be the same, where I'll mix and match it up like that.
But I also think I am going to incorporate an instrument now, too, moving forward.
Q: Will you be playing guitar like you did on 'AGT: Fantasy League,' or are you working on other instruments?
Right now, the primary has been piano. I feel like I went through a guitar phase, and I still love guitar. I'll still pick it up all the time, but for some reason, I've been drawn back to piano.
Q: What do you hope people think or feel when they hear your new song?
I really just want them to feel hopeful and have a new confidence that someday they will find their person, just to realize that they're worthy of the good kind of love ... that fun, exciting kind of love. So, just hold on to that and believe in it.
