Emily Ann Roberts Shares Powerful Message About Staying Motivated When the Audience Isn’t Paying Attention

Emily Ann Roberts is turning what could have been a very discouraging moment into a powerful message for aspiring artists.

The country singer recently came across a fan-filmed video of herself performing on stage, only to notice that much of the crowd appeared distracted, talking loudly over her performance instead of paying attention. At first, Roberts admitted the clip embarrassed her.

“When that came up on my for you page, at first I thought somebody took a video of me, and half a second later I thought, that’s kind of embarrassing because nobody’s paying a lick of attention to me and they’re talking really loud. And now I wish this wasn’t on the internet,” she explained in a selfie-style TikTok.

But as she kept watching, her perspective on the entire situation shifted. “Thank God by the end of the video, my brain had come full circle and I thought, you know, who cares? The girl who took this video cares. She was paying attention.”

From there, Roberts delivered a heartfelt message for other up-and-coming musicians who may face similar moments. Drawing from a decade of experience, she reminded her followers that situations like this one are all just part of the journey.

She recalled a show in Texas where the audience hardly acknowledged her performance. 

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“Nobody cared. And we got done with our first song, and you would’ve thought that we had never even done nothing,” she remembered. 

Instead of delivering a subpar show, Roberts and her band put forth their A-game and it wound up paying off. The next day, her producer shared a message from an audience member who praised her performance saying she “acted like she was on the Grand Ole Opry back on that patio.”

“Okay, Emily Ann, that is what you do,” she said. “That’s how you put on a show because you never know who is watching. It doesn’t matter if you look around and everybody’s talking and looking at their cell phones… somebody there cares.”

Roberts stressed that the key to building real fans and having a long-standing career in country music  is to always give your best effort. 

“If [God’s] the only one watching, well, then by golly, I better put my best foot forward for him,” she said.

“What else are my options? To throw in the towel? No, that’s not an option. That ain’t an option for me. And that ain’t an option for you either. So shift your perspective and know that what you do matters and somebody’s watching and you ought to want to make a good impression.”

Roberts’ post was flooded with comments from fellow artists, including Mae Estes, who asked, “Why Am I crying?” and Walker Hayes who supported her comments with two flexed bicep emojis. 

Emily Ann Roberts brand-new EP, Memory Lane, arrives on Friday, October 3.