If you’ve been following Erin Kinsey since her breakout 2022 EP 40 East or her viral hit-makers “I Ain’t Crazy” and “Matchmaker” you already know the Texas native is a powerhouse. With over 130 million career streams, multi-instrumental chops (she plays seven instruments!), and songwriting cuts for heavy hitters like Dolly Parton and Rita Wilson, Kinsey has solidified herself as one of country music’s most vibrant independent forces.
Now, she’s gearing up for her most raw, personal, and exciting chapter yet: her debut full-length album, Suede, dropping August 7, 2026.
Between laughing over backstage antics and teasing new music, Kinsey opened up to Celeb Secrets Country backstage at CMA Fest 2026 about performing her viral duet with Dylan Marlowe, taking creative control as an independent artist, and what fans can expect from this bold new era.
The duo performed their emotional, viral duet “Say I’m Wrong,” which dropped on May 22, live together for the very first time.
“Yesterday was my big official show at the Dr. Pepper stage. We went on at 4:15 PM, which luckily was starting to cool off… but the whole place was capped out!” Erin recalled with a grin. “It was our first time performing [the song] live… It was really, really fun.”
Written alongside hitmakers Jared Keim and Parker Welling, “Say I’m Wrong” captures the delicate, terrifying tension of realizing a professional boundary or close friendship is turning into something deeper.
“I walked into this writing session… I started having a fling with a guy I was working with, which was very, very risky,” Erin confessed. “I walked into this writing session and I was like, ‘We have to talk about this. We have to figure out what this is.’ Luckily, we ended up getting a song out of it.”
The track sits in a unique space as it offers no neat resolution, perfectly mirroring the messy reality of mid-twenties romance. “It’s kind of like a mood ring — you see what you wanna see, hear what you wanna hear,” Kinsey shared.
Though she sat on the track for a few years, fan demand never slowed down. Every week since 2022, her DMs were flooded with pleas to drop it. When it came time to find a duet partner, Marlowe was her absolute first choice.
“I have been a fan of his voice for forever… I wrote the song around the time when ‘Record High’ came out, and at the time I was like, ‘Man, I wish we could get that Dylan guy on it,'” Erin laughed. She reached out to Marlowe’s wife, Natalie, who told her to send it over — cautioning that “if he don’t like it, he won’t sing on it.”
Fortunately, Marlowe loved it, and the rest is country duet magic.
After spending three years signed to a major label, Kinsey is now operating as a fully independent artist, which is a shift that has transformed her relationship with her art and her fanbase.
“Not having as many people focused on [trends or playlisting] around me right now, I just wanna give the people who are gonna listen what they want,” Erin explained. “It feels more service industry, like, ‘We’re gonna do this together.'”
That newfound freedom radiates through her upcoming debut album, Suede (out August 7). Featuring the newly released title track — penned by Michael August and Elysse Yulo — the album serves as a rich, multidimensional portrait of navigating your mid-twenties.
“Suede can be described in a million different ways. It’s strong yet soft, durable yet delicate, flexible yet grounded… That’s exactly how this album feels to me,” Erin shared. “I feel the most honest to myself than I’ve ever felt, and I’ve realized that’s a little bit messy… It’s like different shades of the same color. It’s all blue — there’s navy and baby blue — but it’s all blue.”
Fans listening to Suede will get a front-row seat to Erin’s artistic growth, featuring her first true love song, her first Texas country-inspired track, fan favorites like “House Arrest,” and of course, her duet with Marlowe.
With Suede dropping next month and an international tour supporting Alana Springsteen across Europe (with stops in Dublin, England, Norway, and more), 2026 is officially the summer of Erin Kinsey.
“People have said that there’s a different light about how I’m talking and speaking and singing, and it feels like they’re getting the most raw and real version of me yet,” Kinsey reflected. “In the past, I’ve tried to be ‘the artist Erin Kinsey,’ and now I’m just like, I don’t know, I’m here… It’ll be the year that people really got to know me.”
Listen to “Suede” below and don’t forget to let us know if you’re excited for Erin’s debut album by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecretscountry.
With reporting by Katie Jack. For more on CMA Fest 2026, click here.
