That soaring vocal you’re hearing on “Why Should I Worry”? That’s Carly Ann Taylor, a brand-new artist, who calls San Diego, California, home. The newcomer has a difficult backstory that’s molded her into something of an old soul — so much so that you forget she’s only in her early 20s. Her half-brother and his wife adopted her as a teenager. They took her to church, introduced her to Jesus and helped her embrace a calling that led to writing and recording Christian music. Her brother, whom she now calls Dad, fronts the faith-forward, alt-pop outfit Hopeful. Taylor honed her own live show opening for his band. We recently sat down with the budding singer/songwriter, via Zoom, to chat about her origin story, the real anxiety that inspired “Why Should I Worry” and the dramatic life change she’s experienced since moving to the west coast.
KLOVE.com: When did you first know you wanted to pursue music?
Carly Ann Taylor: So my first performance, I was 3 years old; I’ve been performing my entire life. I always wanted to be a singer and performer; it was just never really on my mind to write. My grandfather was in a band, played at Woodstock. And his brother, my great uncle Mel, was the drummer in a band called The Ventures. And so I grew up feeling I needed to live up to those names. They were really big shoes to fill.
Then when I accepted Jesus and I was introduced to worship music, it felt like that’s what I was created to do. And that’s how, naturally, writing songs came about. I really think with my reflective, philosophical type of brain, the Lord was allowing me to go through a lot of hard things, so that when I was out of it, I would have something to say. But I grew up not ever really thinking about writing music. I didn’t play any instruments. My mom taught me guitar my junior year of high school, and then in college, I learned piano. I was a commercial music production major. So you have to do your piano proficiency and all your classical training. That was kind of my crash course into learning instruments.
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KLOVE.com: Your debut single, “Why Should I Worry,” was inspired by a really beautiful Scripture in the book of Matthew. It’s a song about replacing fear with faith. What has your relationship with anxiety looked like?
Carly Ann Taylor: Well, COVID 2020 was my senior year of high school, and I think that’s really where the anxiety, and just the worry and fear, really started for me. It was such an important time in my life — 18 years old, starting college with a mask on, going into the real world; but the real world was flipped upside down.
I wrote “Why Should I Worry” after I graduated from college. I was experiencing this life crisis and just a season of depression and anxiety. I was kind of like, “God, I know what You’re calling me to do, but how do I do it? What is my next step?” I think the transition from high school to college was already super weird for me. It wasn’t normal. Most people have that natural transition, but because of COVID, this was my first experience transitioning into real adulthood — having to get a job; and I see everybody around me getting married or having kids. I was asking God for my next step, and my mom encouraged me with Matthew 6 — the Scripture that talks about “look at the birds of the air, look at the lilies. Am I not taking care of them? Why wouldn’t I take care of you even more?” I was just reflecting on that portion of Scripture and trying to get myself out of the funk I was in. Honestly, I wrote “Why Should I Worry” trying to convince myself to move forward, knowing the Lord would show me my next step in His perfect timing.
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KLOVE.com: An earlier version of “Why Should I Worry” that you released independently landed you a record deal. How did that come about?
Carly Ann Taylor: It was crazy. My parents gifted me the production of one song with a dream producer of mine, David Cook. He lives right by my house, so it was just perfect. He works with Phil Wickham a lot, and Phil Wickham is my favorite artist. So it was a dream come true. I brought “Why Should I Worry” to him, and we finished writing it with my dad. The night the original version of “Why Should I Worry” released, two A&R reps from [my now label home] came to the show that I was opening for my dad’s band. It was my first time doing my own music. I’ve been a worship leader for eight years; I’ve been performing my whole life, but this was my first time doing my own show. And they were there, and I was freaking out. Within a week, they were talking about signing me. And so it felt like God was telling me, “Why should you worry? I am taking care of you and your next step forward. I’m holding it in My hands.” God has used that song to impact me.
KLOVE.com: You live in San Diego now, but you were born in Hawaii, right?
Carly Ann Taylor: Yes. I was born on the Big Island in Kona. I lived there until I was 15 years old.
KLOVE.com: What was it like growing up there?
Carly Ann Taylor: Well, I think visiting there is great; but living there, for me, was not so great. With Hawaii, it’s crazy, because you either have really poor or really rich. There’s not a lot of in between. So I was on the poor side. I grew up in a really dysfunctional household, taken by Child Protective Services when I was 7 and just grew up around a lot of abuse. But I was adopted when I was 15 and came to California, and my life completely changed.
KLOVE.com: Do you think you had to grow up a lot faster than most kids your age because of the direction your childhood took?
Carly Ann Taylor: Yeah, definitely. I really believe that I raised myself. I was having to basically be a 30-year-old, but in a little kid’s body. And now I feel like it’s the opposite, because my life has been transformed, and I’ve found so much redemption. Accepted Jesus, have a new family. And since I was 15, I’ve been able to actually be a kid and to be taken care of and to be loved and learn how to love.
KLOVE.com: Your brother and sister-in-law actually took you in, is that right?
Carly Ann Taylor: Yeah. They took me in, and now they’re Mom and Dad, and I have two little brothers and a little sister.
KLOVE.com: Did you share a close bond with your brother before he and his wife adopted you?
Carly Ann Taylor: Not really, and I think that’s actually what made it easy for me to call them Mom and Dad. He was 16 years older than me, so they got married when I was really little. I didn’t grow up with him around. We have different moms, same dad. His mom took him out of that situation at a really young age, so he didn’t have to grow up in that environment. He probably came to visit, maybe, three or four times as I grew up. I obviously knew him, but he was my brother kind of in title only. So it made it fairly easy for me to transition from brother to dad. As a family, the Lord has shown us so many moments of how He’s been orchestrating all of this from the very beginning.
KLOVE.com: What do you hope people take away from both your story and your music?
Carly Ann Taylor: I hope they take away love and redemption. And that no matter what your situation is — how you grew up, the way you were raised, what you were taught — the Lord can redeem anything.
