By Maiya Tomlin
The last time sophomore Tess Horner sang live in front of an audience (before this year’s variety show) was at the 4th grade talent show.
I recently approached Tess at the cafe tables with some friends, hoping to discuss her singing career. Our interview quickly turned into a roundtable discussion. All of our friends began curiously asking her questions. “I sort of always knew I could sing because I was in Chorus,” she told us. After many years of singing practice, she decided to learn how to play the guitar. “I only learned how to play in the last year or two,” she added.
Tess is used to performing in front of people, but not quite like the audience she had during the variety show. Tess posts singing content on her TikTok account (@tesshorner) which currently stands at around 800 followers but continues to quickly grow. “I just like to share my stuff. Share it with other people and not just with my friends,” she told us.
On her TikTok account, she covers either her favorite artists’ songs or songs her friends have requested. “But if the requests are too hard, I’m not going to do ’em,” she told us. She’s never tried to write her own songs, but she said that with more free time, perhaps in the summer, she might give it a try.
Tess usually sings in the comfort of her bedroom, and she told us she only considers it a hobby, not quite a passion. “It’s definitely my primary hobby though.” Ironically, despite singing in her room so frequently, her family, specifically her mom, had no idea she was so amazing until “she found out from other moms texting her saying that I was good,” she told us.
Despite regularly singing for the 800 people that follow her on TikTok, Tess told us the variety show was much more intimidating. “It doesn’t scare me to post because I can do as many takes as I want until I get it perfect,” she said. She told us she was motivated to sign up for the variety show because “all my friends were telling me to.” Tess opened the show singing a fan favorite: Something in the Orange by Zach Bryan.
Tess told us that Zach Bryan is definitely her favorite artist to cover, although sometimes she has to change the pitch of the song to match her voice. We were all curious about what celebrity she’d want to sing a duet with. “Elton John,” she told us without hesitation.
Tess balances a heavy course load, varsity basketball, club lacrosse, and her singing hobby. Fortunately, “to learn the chords and stuff, it doesn’t take that long. I know the basic ones, so I just play the basic ones and then learn the strumming pattern.” And since she typically knows the lyrics of the songs she plays, singing is something she can do stress-free.
Her audience on TikTok has been growing since creating the account back in September, but she told us she has never intentionally tried to go viral. “I mainly record and post videos to look back on,” she said. And she’s unsure if she’d ever attempt to make a career out of singing.
Tess’s love for singing and music is evident, and best believe we will all encourage her to sign up for the variety show again next year. According to 11Alive, Elton John sold his Atlanta condo last year. But who knows? Maybe he can fly in for a duet.
