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“Going Blonde” is easily one of Tanner Adell’s most personal songs to date, written in tribute to her late mother, who had blonde hair. On Monday (March 31), during Bunnie DeFord’s “Dumb Blonde Podcast,” the ascendant country star opened up about the emotional story behind it, which she says led to “one of the darkest days” she’s ever experienced.
“It wasn’t [until] a little bit later that I realized it’s a little bit different to be biracial and adopted, but then also [adopted] into a Caucasian Mormon family,” Adell explained shortly before revealing that she grew up alongside four siblings who shared similar stories. “All of this at once just made me feel so displaced,” she added.
The Love Renaissance signee went on to explain that her birth mother, who already had two kids with another man, ended up having an affair with who she believed was her biological father. “That was all I really knew,” she said. “So, I had pictures of [my presumed father], but I didn’t have pictures of her… Just a couple of years after [connecting with him on Facebook], I got an AncestryDNA email from a kit that I had taken a few years back. It was an email that just said, ‘Hey, my name’s Donnell. I think you’re my sister.’”
After that, Adell described the “cool experience” of also connecting with her brother and sending photos of hands, ears and other features back and forth with him. “We realized we were full biological siblings,” she said. “We think my birth mother must have already been pregnant with me when she had the affair and thought that he had gotten her pregnant, but actually [I] was her legitimate child…and [she] put me up for adoption and didn’t know.”
Unfortunately, the discovery also came with the heartbreaking news that Adell’s mother had died years earlier. “[My brother] informed me that she had passed away about four years before that, so I didn’t get to meet her, and I think that was probably one of the darkest days of my life so far that I’ve experienced.”
Though the Lexington native never got the chance to connect with her biological mother, there’s no doubt she’d be proud of the artist — and woman — she’s become. “Going Blonde” marked her first release of the year, following a meteoric run in 2024.
She was among the many talented Black country artists featured on Beyonce’s COWBOY CARTER, having contributed to “BLACKBIIRD” and “AMERIICAN REQUIEM.” The BUCKLE BUNNY creator also unveiled loosies like “Whiskey Blues,” “Cowboy Break My Heart” and “Silverado” — all hopefully pointing toward her sophomore effort.
