Reyna Robertsweighed only two pounds when she faced the biggest challenge of her life. Shortly after her premature birth at an Alaskan hospital, her heart stopped. And then, she stopped breathing. And then, there were those that thought she might be gone.
But she kept fighting — and she has been a fighter ever since.
“I love people and I’m kind and I care about people,” Roberts, 24, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. “But there’s always been a fire in me.”
And it’s that fire that seemingly ignites within a line from the powerhouse vocalist’s fiery new anthem “Raised Right,” a line that in so many words describes the red-haired country vixen with the sweet as molasses heart, a line that finds a way to describe the indescribable, a line that tells one all they need to know about this towering talent.
“That’s actually my favorite line in the song too,” Roberts says of the revealing ‘a little hell yeah in my hallelujah’line in her new single “Raised Right,” which she calls “the embodiment of who I am as a person.” She says with a laugh, “My nana is a minister and my mom’s a hell-raiser and that’s just how our family is! I felt like that was a poetic way of putting that.”
“My parents raised me to be respectful,” explains Roberts, whose previous single “Stompin’ Grounds” appeared on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
But they also raised her with a little fire and a lot of fight, a fight that one can hear in Roberts' growing catalog of country songs.
Indeed, it’s a strength that Roberts has needed as of late, as she continues to fight her way up the ladder as a Black woman in a primarily white country music industry.
“I’ve never wanted anything else in my life other than to be a singer and an artist that creates music that outlives me,” says Roberts, who grew up on the sounds ofChristina Aguilera, Destiny’s Child, Gretchen Wilson andThe Chicks. “Like, for generations after me, I want my music to live on.”
Reyna Roberts.Green Room PR
She pauses for a moment, and then continues.
“The only limits out there are the ones you put on yourself,” she says with authority. “There were times that I didn’t have resources. I didn’t know anybody in the music industry. So, I would research people like my favorite artists and their managers and their songwriters. And I would just send them emails and then direct messages, not knowing if I’d get a response or not. But when you want something so badly, you’re going to find a way to get to where you want to be.”
But no matter the strength she exhibits on the outside, Roberts admits to that little voice on the inside, trying to get her to doubt herself.
“I’m my biggest critic,” Roberts admits. “I always want to beat myself up. I want to do better than before. I want to make my team, my family, my friends, the people who have supported me all this time proud, because it’s not just about me, right? This is something that we’ve created together, and I can’t let them down. I’m not just trying to win for me. I’m trying to win for all of us.”
So Roberts perseveres for all of them, and all those that might now be looking up to her.
“I want to be able to be that inspiration for somebody else,” she says. “I want to give them that drive to make their dreams happen, just like the idols who have inspired me did.”
source: people.com
