Deprived of her childhood. Pitted and compared to her idol.
Record labels passing on signing her. Country music star Gabby Barrett's stunning transformation
will have you rethinking what you thought about her. Keep watching for all the details!
Barrett is one of eight children, but her parents still found the time and energy
to help her chase her art at an early age. While speaking with E! News in March 2022,
the singer shared that while her family wasn't well-off, her parents did what
they could to encourage her to follow her larger-than-life dreams. She explained,
"I had very supportive parents growing up.
My dad was very supportive, very involved with all of my stuff for a long time coming up."
"I really really really want to pay my dad back for everything he's done for me."
When the singer-songwriter competed on ABC's "American Idol" in 2018,
her dad sang his daughter's praises in an interview with TribLive, saying,
"Gabby doesn't have one ounce of nerves because she loves to perform in front of crowds."
Gabby is also close to her siblings and occasionally posts throwback photos of her family,
including a birthday post in 2020 for her brother and
another post wishing her mom a happy Mother's Day.
Barrett started singing and performing when she
was still in elementary school. According to The Boot, she told reporters in 2020 that the start of
her music career can be traced back to the moment her dad suggested she get involved with a local
gospel choir. As a youngster, she also performed at local grocery stores on a regular basis.
Barrett told the Tennessean that her soulful,
country-rock sound comes from her parents' musical influences.
While she's a fan of many genres, country ultimately became her favorite. She explained,
"There's something about country music that just
captures you in a different way than any other genre."
Throughout her time performing at local grocery stores and restaurants, Barrett's dad served as
her manager, and both were intent on seeing her music career come to pass. She shared,
"Me and my dad discussed from an early age that this is what we're gonna do.
We're gonna do this and make something from it."
"It's been a long hard road to get here but we really appreciate it."
Barrett didn't necessarily do the things other kids her age
were doing — like sneaking out of the house or partying. When speaking to Taste of Country,
the star shared how she sacrificed her teen years for music. She said,
"I didn't have like the normal childhood,
and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but like I was always singing or always doing shows."
Barrett's years playing gigs as a kid paid off
when one of her shows caught the ear of an "American Idol" producer,
according to Women's Wear Daily. She said of her experience on the show,
"I learned a lot. It was very challenging in areas I wasn't expecting. You watch the
show and you see people performing on the stage and you think, 'That's easy,
I can go and sing a cover song because that's all I've done for the past six years.'"
While she didn't win the whole show, she did walk away with the invaluable
experience that comes with playing on national TV
week after week and receiving feedback from some of the biggest names in music.
During her "Idol" audition, Barrett shared that she grew up watching the singing competition
and that she looked up to a certain superstar "Idol" alum.
"Carrie Underwood's my idol. I love her. She's beautiful and I'm very excited to be here."
Barrett told People magazine in 2020 that she's totally cool with her name
being linked to Underwood's, but she understands how important it is not to pigeonhole herself.
When the "Before He Cheats" singer acted as her mentor on "Idol," she encouraged
Barrett to never lose sight of what sets her apart from others. Barrett recalled,
"When I actually talked to her about how people compare me to her on 'American Idol,'
she said, 'You know what? You have blonde hair, I have blonde hair.
You have a big voice in country music, and so do I. But clearly
there's a difference between me and you — our voices don't sound the same.'"
Barrett would not only find national fame on season 16 of "American Idol" in 2018,
but a future husband as well. She ultimately won big in the love
department with fellow contestant and country singer Cade Foehner.
"Was there an image of someone drifting through your head as you were singing that?"
"Possibly, yeah."
Barrett told Pop Culture in 2019,
"We met around Top 24, Top 40. I was like, 'Hmm, I like him, I like him a lot.'"
So she made the first move and figured out a way to get some one-on-one time with him.
She revealed,
"I wanted to make a video with him of us singing together. I didn't
think he liked me at first, but then he texted me and I was like,
'Oh I see what's going on here,' so it was a mutual thing, but I went after him first."
Barrett stood out on "American Idol" in 2018, but it wasn't an easy transition into superstardom.
As she told The Boot in 2020,
"A lot of people assume that [...] after the show,
you're set, and that's not the case at all. You go back to almost square one."
For Barrett, square one meant rejection. Following "Idol," several Nashville labels passed on
signing her, and while it was a tough pill to swallow, Barrett understood why. She explained,
'''Idol' is a platform that you come off of singing cover songs.
Labels and people didn't know if I could write original music or anything."
However, Barrett persevered and self-released her crossover hit
"I Hope" in 2019 after meeting up with Jon Nite and Zach Kale,
songwriters behind some of country's biggest hits, and co-writing the tune together.
When speaking to Billboard in 2020, she said she was grateful to her "Idol" fans who stuck by her,
especially when her song came out, which is when she finally got the attention of record labels.
Barrett and Foehner got engaged in March 2019 in Los Angeles at a pretty significant location — she
told People mag that Foehner popped the question in a hotel room from their "American Idol" days.
One year after meeting as contestants on Season 16 of "Idol" in 2018,
Barrett and Foehner tied the knot in front of 100 guests in a ceremony in Texas. The
duo wrote their vows and added touches of personal memorabilia throughout the reception — including
framed photos on tables of the couple singing on stage. She told the publication,
"We thought, 'What's the point in waiting years and years if we already know we're
going to be committed to each other forever?' So may forever start now."
Barrett was only 19 when she wed Foehner, who was 23. Some may say that's young,
but as Barrett told Taste of Country in 2020,
she has relatives who got hitched when they were as young as 13 years old and it worked out.
Barrett didn't waste any time starting a family of her own. Following her 2019 wedding in Texas,
the country singer announced to People in 2020 that she was expecting. She told the outlet,
"The Lord has blessed us with a little one, and we're really excited to finally be able
to share the news with everybody and just have a big old family celebration about it."
The couple spoke about having kids after their wedding, but COVID-19 fast-tracked things.
They started trying for a baby right at the start of the pandemic. Barrett explained,
"There was this huge amount of time of getting to think
and rethink what life was going to be about."
One year later, Barrett shared the news on social media that their daughter
Baylah May Foehner had arrived. While Barrett has shared many of her pregnancy and newborn mom
adventures with fans on the social media platform, she hasn't shown Baylah's face.
She explained to her fans on Instagram that she does this to protect her privacy.
Barrett may be a country music star,
but she's still that same girl from Pennsylvania. During a press conference in late 2020,
Barrett told several news outlets, including Sounds Like Nashville, that she almost can't
believe how things have worked out for her personally and professionally. She said,
"It's just been a very big year for me that I've been very humbled by.
It's just crazy because since I was 11 and I would work really hard every single year,
I never got things handed to me easily, so to see all of these things happening this year,
it's just like I'm spinning on my head."
For Barrett, 2020 was not only the year she found out she was expecting her first child,
but the year her music career skyrocketed — her debut hit single "I Hope" went three
times platinum and "The Good Ones" was certified gold. As a result,
Barrett was part of the Recording Industry Association of America Class of 2020.
Balancing work and motherhood isn't easy, but Barrett has taken it in stride. What's more,
she has developed even more respect for her parents on her journey as a new mom.
While speaking to E! News in 2022 during the Billboard Women in Music Awards, she
said her first year of motherhood came with its challenges and rewards. Barrett told the outlet,
"What I've learned about myself is probably to
be more grateful to my parents for what they have done for me.
It takes a lot to be a parent. It takes a lot to be a mother trying to balance another job."
The country star also told the outlet that now that she has a little one of her own,
she hopes to follow in her parents' footsteps and be as supportive a mom as possible.
Barrett's parents helped point her toward a successful career,
and clearly, it worked out for her. At the Billboard Women in Music Awards ceremony,
Barrett was given the 2022 Rising Star Award. In her acceptance speech, she said,
"I heard a lot of 'nos' and it seemed like every door that I knocked on remained closed for a long
time. But, by the graciousness of God I am here today, and I continue to work hard and persevere."
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