Caroline Hicks
“I’ve not been drinking in prep for the tour, so my nerves were just kind of free and willy-nilly, with nothing to calm them,” Ottolini, 27, tells PEOPLE with a laugh. “So I was like, ‘I hope my microphone works. I hope it sounds good. I hope people are there.'”
And they were, as thousands gathered earlier this month in Halifax, Canada to check out Ottolini on the first night of her Canadian run with country music powerhouse Twain as part of herQueen of Metour.
“My hometown friends flew to the show, and they stood up for my first song,” recalls Ottolini, who is the second most followed Canadian country artiston TikTok— behind only the legendary Twain. “I saw them in the crowd and instantly I was just like, ‘There’smy people.'”
Indeed, the similarities between Ottolini’s fans and Twain’s fans certainly are many, as the two women have found their way into the spotlight of country music armed with a fire in their hearts for stardom and all that comes with it. And its fire of the authentic variety that surrounds Ottolini in the music video for her current single “Match for My Memory.”
“I’m just a fiery gal, I guess,” says Ottolini, who has been writing songs since she was 13 years old. “I’m a Leo, so we got that sun, and we got the fire. But I also have a pyro guy [James Sled] who likes to do a lot of ‘boom and banging’ with us, so it’s a lot of fun.”
James Sled.Caroline Hicks
“It’s basically a message to an ex,” Ottolini explains. “When they think they’re going to forget about you and they think they can just burn all these physical things that have to do with you, you can be like, ‘Good luck on being able to forget me because there’s no match for my memory.’ There’s no way you can burn away our memories. They’re going to be with you for as long as they want to be.”
“I’m starting in a pond full of fire,” explains Ottolini, whose music video for her platinum-selling single “F-150"also utilized a whole bunch of hot stuff. “And it’s kind of symbolic. As the memory grows, it gets bigger and bigger until you try to put it out and you try to get in the water, but it simply just won’t go away. It all starts with one small flame and then all of a sudden, you can’t escape a memory.”
And playing with that fire in the music video wasn’t as easy as it looked.
It was worth the uncomfortableness of it all, as the music video serves as yet another notch on the ladder to stardom in the States, much like the trajectory that Twain’s career also once climbed.
“It’s a true honor to share the stage with someone like Shania,” says Ottolini, who will spend the rest of her summer sharing the stage with the likes of artists such asElle King,Walker HayesandLindsay Ell. “The fact that she chose me for these shows blows my mind. I just feel so lucky.”
She pauses. “Shania really led the way for women. Growing up with her is just amazing.”
source: people.com
