ON BEAT: Emma Andersen
Emma Andersen is set to play AMERICANAFEST at Nashville’s prominent 3rd and Lindsley venue on Sept. 16.
Andersen dropped out of Belmont University’s songwriting program in her sophomore year after she struck a record deal with the Radio Corporation of America.
Social media plays a massive role in her career, and she said having luck online was a large part of how she got discovered and signed.
“I am one of those freaks that loves social media,” Andersen said.
“One of the only times that I feel the most calm and at peace is when I’m onstage,” Andersen said. “But I also think for a lot of people, it’s one of the most personal, intimate things you can do, especially when you’re sitting there completely by yourself.”
Andersen teased her AMERICANAFEST set will be completely acoustic. After opening for Hunter Metts’ A Crater Wide Tour in late 2025, Andersen said she learned how playing solo and acoustic makes travel between shows easier and allows for more creativity with how she plays each song.
Americana, known for being a relatively stripped genre that famously allows for more onstage intimacy, is also the home of a lot of protest music from artists like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell.
Andersen’s 2025 song “Simple Math,” spurred political controversy due to the lyric “We’re on stolen land and borrowed time.”
But it wasn’t intended to be a political song.
“I definitely did have people in my comment sections who were beefing over whether the land we were living on was stolen or not, and I was like, it was one line,” Andersen said.
However, she received positive feedback, too.
“Some girl sent me the most beautiful essay that she had written about [‘Simple Math’]... where she had basically broken down every lyric, ended up pointing back to this political messaging, and I was like ‘Oh, that’s so cool.’”
Andersen said she keeps an open mind toward big and blunt political statements.
“To make a very large political claim is such an interesting way to rally a bunch of people,” she said.
Following AMERICANAFEST, she’ll be opening for indie-folk/pop artist Yana on the “The Feelings Are Forever Tour.”
Purchase tickets to AMERICANAFEST here.
Buy tickets to see Emma Andersen open for Yana here.
Written by Louise Geri
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