Growing up is messy. Falling in love can be even messier. And when you’re chasing a music career while figuring out who you are along the way, sometimes the best thing you can do is stop worrying about getting it all right.
That’s exactly where Presley & Taylor find themselves on ACT MY AGE, their new 12-track album that trades the pressure to fit a mold for a louder, bolder and far more personal take on life in your twenties. Blending the heart of country storytelling with pop-rock hooks and guitar-driven grit, the sister duo is letting every heartbreak, questionable decision and hard-earned lesson have its moment — no apologies necessary.
“We stopped worrying so much about whether everything fit into a perfect little box and started asking ourselves whether it felt authentic,” Presley & Taylor tell Celeb Secrets Country.
It’s a shift that goes beyond a new sound. After growing up together in the music industry, the sisters are stepping into a chapter where trusting their own instincts matters more than meeting anyone else’s expectations. From reaching out to producer Andrew Baylis through his DMs to turning lived-in relationship drama into songs that might have a few exes feeling exposed, Presley & Taylor are making room for all the different sides of themselves — the country girls, the pop-rock fans and the women still figuring things out.
And they’re not exactly looking to settle down creatively just because life is changing. With both sisters navigating newlywed life and building on the career they’ve worked toward since their teens, ACT MY AGE captures two artists growing into themselves without losing the sisterly chemistry at the heart of it all.
In an exclusive conversation with Celeb Secrets Country, Presley & Taylor get candid about the stories behind ACT MY AGE, the creative risks that helped shape their new era, and what they hope listeners take away from a record that embraces the chaos instead of cleaning it up. Plus, they reveal whether their exes know which songs are about them, which tracks they can see themselves singing decades from now, and why a few songs had to wait years to find their place on the album.
Keep scrolling to read our full Q&A with Presley & Taylor, and don’t forget to let us know if you’re loving ACT MY AGE by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecretscountry.
Celeb Secrets Country: What does the title ACT MY AGE mean to each of you? Is it a phrase you’ve heard from other people, something you’ve told yourselves or a little bit of both?
Presley & Taylor: “Honestly, it’s a little bit of both! I think there’s this expectation that as you get older, you’re supposed to have everything figured out, make the right decisions and have your life perfectly together. But the reality is that we’re still figuring things out, making mistakes and learning as we go. ‘Act your age’ can be something people say when they think you should know better, but we started looking at it differently. What if acting your age means embracing exactly where you are in life instead of trying to be who everyone expects you to be? The album is about giving yourself permission to be a little messy, have fun, make mistakes and own your experiences. We’re not trying to have it all figured out, and honestly, that’s kind of the point.”
CSC: This project feels like a much bolder Presley & Taylor than we’ve seen in the past. What inspired that moment of clarity where you decided to embrace the messy and leave the “perfect” perception behind?
P&T: “I think it came from realizing that we didn’t want to spend our lives trying to fit into someone else’s idea of who we should be as artists. We’ve been doing this since we were teenagers, and naturally, we’ve grown up a lot along the way. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve become more confident in our opinions, our experiences and the kind of music we actually want to make. We love the Country storytelling we’ve always been drawn to, but we also grew up listening to a lot of Rock and Pop-Rock, and we wanted to let that side of us take up more space. We stopped worrying so much about whether everything fit into a perfect little box and started asking ourselves whether it felt authentic. That shift gave us the freedom to be louder, more honest and a little more unapologetic. ACT MY AGE feels like us finally letting all those sides of ourselves exist in the same room.”
CSC: The album explores everything from heartbreak and toxic relationships to independence and chasing your dreams. Was it difficult to revisit some of those experiences while writing and recording?
P&T: “Definitely, because when you’re writing about something you’ve actually lived through, you’re not just telling a story; you’re revisiting the emotions that came with it. Some experiences are easier to laugh about once you’ve moved on, while others take a little more time and perspective. But that’s also what makes songwriting so special. You can take something that was painful or confusing in the moment and turn it into something that connects with another person. Not every song on the album comes from the same place emotionally, either. Some are about looking back and realizing what you learned, and others are about embracing who you are now and not apologizing for it. There’s something really freeing about taking those experiences and turning them into music that feels empowering instead of letting them define you.”
CSC: How did you end up getting Andrew Baylis to produce the record?
P&T: “We were actually fans of Baylis’s work before we ever worked together, so we decided to just go for it and slide into his DMs! We knew we wanted to take our sound in a bigger, more guitar-driven direction for ACT MY AGE, and we felt like his production style really aligned with what we had in mind. We reached out, asked if he’d be interested in producing the album, and he was basically like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it!’ It was one of those moments where you realize sometimes you just have to take a chance and ask. We’re so glad we did because he really understood the vision we had for this project and helped us bring it to life.”
CSC: What did you learn about yourselves in the studio during this project that you didn’t know going into it?
P&T: “I think we learned how important it is to trust our instincts. Sometimes, when you’ve been in the industry for a while, you can get caught up in what you think a song is supposed to sound like or what other people might expect from you. This project pushed us to lean into our own taste and be more intentional about the sounds we were drawn to. We learned that we don’t have to choose between the different influences that make us who we are. We can have Country storytelling, big Rock guitars, Pop melodies and a little bit of attitude all living in the same project. More than anything, we came away feeling more confident in our identity as artists and more excited about the possibilities of where we can take our music.”
CSC: “ONE LAST SHOT” is the first track on the album. Why did you choose that for the opener?
P&T: “We felt like ‘ONE LAST SHOT’ was the perfect bridge between the sound of our last album and this new era. We wanted to introduce listeners to a bolder, more guitar-driven side of Presley & Taylor without making the transition feel abrupt. The song has elements of the sound people already know us for, but it also gives them a taste of where we’re going with ACT MY AGE. It felt like the perfect way to ease everyone into this next chapter while setting the tone for what’s to come. We were really intentional about that first impression and we couldn’t imagine opening the album with anything else!”
CSC: What is your favorite song on the album that you think you’ll still be singing in 20 years?
P&T: “Taylor would probably have to say ‘ONE LAST SHOT’ or ‘SO BADLY.’ They’re both so hooky and fun to sing and we love a song that gets stuck in your head and makes you want to hit replay as soon as it ends! Presley has loved ‘OUT OF THIS DODGE’ from day one. It’s one of those songs that just clicked with her right away. It’s funny because we don’t always have the same favorites, but that’s part of what makes being sisters and making music together so fun. We each connect with different songs in our own ways, and hopefully that means there’s something on this album for everyone to fall in love with!”
CSC: If someone has never heard your music before, what do you hope they understand about you after listening to this record?
P&T: “We hope they hear two people who aren’t afraid to be themselves. We’re sisters, but we’re also two individuals who have grown up together, chased the same dream and experienced life in our own ways. This album captures a lot of that: the fun, the heartbreak, the bad decisions, the independence and the realization that you don’t have to have everything figured out to be exactly where you’re supposed to be. We also hope people hear the different musical influences that have shaped us. There’s a lot of Country storytelling in what we do, but we love big guitars, bold melodies and that Pop-Rock energy that makes you want to turn the volume all the way up. Ultimately, we want people to walk away feeling like they got to know us a little better, and hopefully find a piece of their own story somewhere in the music.”
CSC: After years of working toward this dream, what does success look like to you now compared with when you first started?
P&T: “When we first started, success probably looked a lot more like traditional milestones: getting a record deal, having a hit song, playing bigger stages and reaching the next level of the industry. Those things are still exciting and we absolutely have big goals, but our definition of success has grown with us. We’ve learned how much goes into building a career in music, especially independently, and we’re proud of the audience we’ve built and the fact that we’ve been able to keep creating and releasing music for so many years. Now, success also means having the freedom to make the music we believe in, being proud of what we put into the world and building something that lasts. We want to look back years from now and know that we took risks, trusted ourselves and never lost sight of why we started doing this in the first place.”
CSC: There are a few songs on the album about toxic relationships. Do you think your exes know which songs are written about them? Have you heard from any of them?
P&T: “I mean, if the shoe fits! We think one of the best things about songwriting is that you can take an experience that’s personal to you and turn it into something other people can relate to. We might start with a specific situation, but by the time a song is finished, it can belong to anyone who’s ever been through something similar. We’re not necessarily sitting around sending our exes track lists, but if someone hears a song and thinks it’s about them, that’s between them and their conscience! Honestly, sometimes being able to laugh about those experiences and turn them into music is the best kind of closure.”
CSC: You both recently got married. How has that dynamic shifted between you guys out on the road and in the writers room?
P&T: “It’s definitely a new chapter for both of us! We’ve spent so much of our lives doing everything together, from growing up as sisters to building this career, so it’s been fun navigating this season as newlyweds while still being partners in music. I think having our own experiences and perspectives outside the band gives us even more to bring into the writing room. We’re both learning how to balance marriage, life and the career we’ve worked so hard to build and that naturally influences the way we see things and the stories we tell. At the same time, the foundation of our relationship hasn’t changed. We’re still sisters first, we still know how to push each other’s buttons and we still have the same shared dream. If anything, this season is giving us even more life to write about.”
CSC: What is the next era of music for y’all, especially now that some of the chaos has subsided?
P&T: “I don’t know if the chaos ever completely subsides when you’re sisters making music together! But I do think we’re entering a season where we feel more confident about who we are and what we want our music to sound like. ACT MY AGE represents a big step toward the Country-Pop-Rock sound we’ve wanted to explore and we’re excited to keep building on that foundation. We want to keep pushing ourselves creatively, making music that feels fresh and finding new ways to connect with our audience. We’re not interested in recreating the same project over and over. We want to keep evolving as people and artists, and let that growth shape whatever comes next. If this album has taught us anything, it’s that the most exciting music happens when we give ourselves permission to take risks.”
CSC: Since we’re Celeb Secrets, what’s a behind-the-scenes secret from making ACT MY AGE that we wouldn’t know just by listening to it?
P&T: “One thing people might not realize is that a couple of the songs on the album were actually written back in 2023! We held on to them for a while because we knew they were special, but they hadn’t found their home on the right project yet. Sometimes you write a song you love, but it takes a little time for the rest of the pieces to fall into place. When we started putting ACT MY AGE together, those songs finally made sense in the context of the album. We think it’s a good reminder that songwriting doesn’t always happen in a straight line. Sometimes a song just needs to wait for the right moment, and we’re glad we trusted that feeling with these.”
LISTEN TO “ACT MY AGE” HERE:
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