RaeLynn on Her Love of HomeGoods: ‘I Got it From My Mama’

To be able to have a space that is so inspiring to help me want to go write a song, to want to be creative, is super cool. I love it.

Written by Alison Abbey
RaeLynn on Her Love of HomeGoods: ‘I Got it From My Mama’
RaeLynn in her music room. Courtesy of Home Goods.

Stars really are just like us. Just take RaeLynn. The “Tailgate” singer has a soft spot in her heart for shopping at HomeGoods. She recently partnered with the home decor megastore to create her dream music room at her home in Nashville, and chatted with Sounds Like Nashville about her design inspiration, new music and life on and off the road.

Have you always been a HomGoods fan?

Any time I have an off day, I’m always figuring out a way for me to go to HomeGoods, to walk around, to buy things for my house. That’s just an off day necessity for me. I love it so much ’cause there’s so many things to look at and you never leave empty-handed. You always leave finding something for yourself or something for somebody else. I guess I got it form my mama ’cause my mama loves HomeGoods as well. I moved [into this house] about a year ago, and when it came to me trying to spruce up my music room, it was such a dream to be able to go into the store and to just have this opportunity.

Courtesy of Home Goods

How would you describe your decorating style and the style of the room itself?

My style’s always been kind of a bohemian western vibe. I love the hints of really deep, vivid colors. The rug in my music room’s very–there’s dark pink, almost like a magenta, there’s those royal blues, and there’s even yellow. We have that really cool wooden, bohemian looking chair. I love the eclectic look. The more patterns the better, the more colors the better. There’s really no wrong pattern, or color, or thing that could go into the space that we created. To be able to look at this space and to see how everything is so different but it all works so well is so cool.

And you incorporated some of your own personal pieces, too.

I have tons of instruments and my piano and different things that needed to be in the space that didn’t really quite have a home, so they helped me figure that out. We put some guitars on the wall, we moved the piano over a little bit to put it more in the space. It’s really cool just because, when we were finding [new] things for the space, there were so many times where I thought, “That’s one thing I love about HomeGoods, it’s like a treasure hunt every time you go in there.” You’ll be walking down an aisle and then you will see something and you’re like, “Holy crap, that’s what I need for my house. That’s perfect.” I had that moment so many times.

One of those moments was when I found these shadow boxes. They had little pictures in them, but I was like, oh my gosh, you could take all those out and put a record in there like a record cover. I have a couple Dolly records that I love, so to be able to have those hung up by my piano, and see that when I’m writing on my piano, and then have this amazing bookshelf that has all my records on it, and my record player, and my No. 1 Billboard Award, and a home for all of my little things that I didn’t have a home for…All my stuff was kinda just sporadically everywhere, but to have a place to put all of it to see when I’m writing is really cool.

Courtesy of Home Goods

Does it help your creative process?

That’s what I want. I’m a very creative person, so I wanna be able to look at something and feel inspired and feel like I live in a really creative home. That’s why I love my house so much is because it’s my little muse. To be able to have a space that is so inspiring to help me want to go write a song, to want to be creative, is super cool. I never thought that this space could look like it does, and I love it.

You’re on the road a lot–you’re even touring right now. What does home mean to you?

I’m not home very much, so when I come home I’m excited. I love being on the road, I love meeting fans, I love doing what I do, but I also love coming to my little safe haven and being able to sit and just take the time for myself. To have this space that is super inspiring and creative just me helps me do that, and it helps me to be able to recharge to go on the road. I always tell my friends if you haven’t seen me in a couple days, I’m probably just locked up in my house just chilling. I think it’s super important to take time for yourself. I get my best songs and my best inspiration from quiet time here–just putting on some music and thinking about what I wanna say as an artist.

You roll with an amazing group of girlfriends in Nashville, like Cassadee Pope and Lindsay Ell. Have you had a chance to show them the space yet?

Only a few have seen it since I’ve redone it, and they’re like, “holy crap!” Cass hasn’t come over yet. I’m actually having a girl’s night soon, I think they’re coming over this week, and they’re just gonna be obsessed. And I do a Christmas party every year, so that’s gonna be really, really fun to be able to show off the new space.

Did your husband Josh get any input in the decorating?

Heck no! [laughs] Just kidding! He’s like any man; he just wants it to smell clean and look good. It doesn’t take much to please him. He loves it.

All that creative space is paying off. Your new single “Tailgate” is everywhere. How has it been to play it on tour?

The reaction has been absolutely amazing. It’s just such a fun song to perform, and I think, when you have a song that’s really easy to sing along to, and fans can understand what you’re saying, they can get it [on the] first listen. It’s really cool to see them so pumped about a brand new song, and it just gets me excited for the new music I’m putting out.

I’ve been working on this music for a while and to be able to put it out and let it do what it needs to do and it be what it is, is so cool. Fans are just absorbing it, and loving it, and I honestly feel like “Tailgate,” the way it sounds and everything about it is so me. If you know me and my personality, and you talk to me, you can hear this song and say, “Oh my gosh, that’s RaeLynn.”

RaeLynn will play Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom Thursday, Nov. 1 as part of “The SiriusXM The Highway Presents: RaeLynn Mini-Tour.” She’ll also be out on the road with Kane Brown in 2019.