Priscilla Block
Mercury NashvilleAn unexpected run-in with Taylor Swift made a huge impact on Priscilla Block‘s life.
The rising country singer behind “My Bar” was just about ready to leave Nashville when she had a chance meeting with Swift — while she was actually wearing a Taylor Swift T-shirt.
“I’m about a year into town and just crumbling, day by day, and I call my sister one day and I was like, ‘Hey, I have no clue what I’m doing out here.’ It was just the whole ‘If you come home, you didn’t fail. It’s OK,'” Block, whose debut album Welcome to the Block Party just arrived, recalled on an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show last week.
She continued, “And that day, Taylor Swift was driving by. I was leaving work, and I was wearing this Taylor Swift T-shirt. She was just driving by and saw me standing there and was like, ‘Hey! I love your shirt!'”
Block shared her sweet photo with Swift from that day on Clarkson’s show.
“I’m like, ‘What is my life?’ You know? It was crazy,” said Block. “I’m like, ‘I’m quitting my job. I’m quitting school. And I’m gonna go figure this out. I don’t know how to do it, but I’m gonna figure it out.”
Watch the interview and watch Block perform “My Bar” on The Kelly Clarkson Show below.
NEWS
There’s a high probability that Jorja Smith has new music coming this summer. The British singer revealed plans for her What Are the Odds LP on Thursday (July 2), with the album set to arrive on Aug. 21 via FAMM.
Smith reunites with producer P2J — who served as a primary collaborator on her 2023 album Falling or Flying — for the entirety of the project. J Money and P2J will continue to build on the inventive U.K. garage sound Smith has been exploring, alongside a mix of grime and house.
“This album came together really naturally. There was never a big plan; it was just me making music that felt right in the moment,” Smith tells Billboard. “Working with P2J, we started experimenting with different sounds, pulling from U.K. garage, grime and house (funky house, Afro house) and it all grew from there.”
She continues: “The music feels uplifting, but the lyrics can be a bit sad at times. They’re about growing up, love, loss, friendships and figuring things out as I go. I trusted my instincts with this one, and I think you can hear that throughout the record.”
Smith kicked off the album’s rollout in May with the self-assuring “What’s Done Is Done,” and it continues on Thursday (July 2) with a second single, “Alive,” which finds the R&B singer joining forces with Afrobeats pioneer WizKid. The duo basks in the love-drunk euphoria of the honeymoon phase of a bubbling relationship and heads to Paris for the visual.
“Making this with P2J and WizKid felt really easy,” Smith adds of the collab. “We wrote and recorded it together in London. I think we captured that feeling when you’re at the beginning of something with someone and everything feels exciting. I’ve always loved WizKid’s music and the way he’s opened so many doors for Afrobeats around the world, so it feels really special and a big honor to have a song with him.”
What Are the Odds serves as Jorja Smith’s third studio album and contains 12 tracks. Outside of WizKid, the only other feature comes from grime artist Devlin.
When the project lands on Aug. 21, Smith will hit the stage later that night at London’s All Points East, as she’ll be co-headlining the Victoria Park show with Tems. 2026 has already been a busy year for J Money, who served as a musical guest on the debut season of Saturday Night Live UK in April.
The 29-year-old also collaborated with Mobb Deep’s Havoc for a remix of her “Blue Lights” classic and lent “Price of It All” to Amazon MGM Studios’ Bait soundtrack.
Find the What Are the Odds cover art and tracklist below.
What Are the Odds tracklist:
