As Riley Clemmons puts it, she grew up in front of a lot of “eyeballs.” She walked her first red carpet in 2018, released her first album a few months later, and turned 19 that fall. At age 21, she released her sophomore album. She’s 24 now, and she says, a lot different. She’s still singing about her love for God, but she has a different outlook on music and even a different style. Her third album, Church Pew, dropped late last year.
“I’ve grown up in Nashville; I’ve grown up around music. And writing this record really came from a truly all-time low place,” Clemmons told Crosswalk Headlines.
“Growing up in the music industry and growing up in Christian music has been such a massive blessing. But you know, I also grew up in front of many, many eyeballs. And it’s been quite the evolution. I’m 24 years old -- very different than I was obviously at 18.”
Her 2019 song Fighting for Me has been streamed over 160 million times worldwide and was RIAA Gold Certified. In 2021, she was nominated for Female Artist of the Year at the K-LOVE Fan Awards.
In the fall of 2023, her new song Loved by You quickly soared up the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart and was still there this month.
She recorded her latest album, she said, after a low moment in her life.
“I hit a place of burnout, where really the lowest thing about it was I found that my entire sense of self and purpose and work was coming from success,” she said. “... So I took a good part of a year before writing Church Pew to get closer with the Lord and really reestablishing that worth is something that can only come from him.”
There was, she said, “a lot of anxiety associated with it.”
“By nature, I am an anxious girl,” she said. “That’s always been a struggle of mine. But I think that I’ve learned really in the past couple of years to channel it as something that can inspire art and inspire closer connection with my faith.”
Church Pew represents a “musical reset” in her career where she discovered what she likes best stylistically and lyrically, she said.
Meanwhile, Clemmons continues to encourage her fans to grow closer with the Lord.
“One of the biggest things that I’ve implemented into my own life to help me personally is finding and scheduling time to be intentional with the Lord,” she told Crosswalk Headlines. “Put it in your calendar; getting in the Word, being able to really stand by what you believe has changed my world. And it’s changed my relationship with Jesus, and I’m so grateful for that.”
WATCH: Riley Clemmons - Loved By You | Riley Clemmons
Photo Credit: ©Capitol Christian Music Group
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.