Cali Tucker Proves She's Standing on Her Own Two Boots with New Single 'Country Couture' (Exclusive)

The artist — and Tanya Tucker's niece — says she wonders "is my stuff a little too pop for her? I'm almost afraid to ask! But she loves me. That's all that matters"

Cali Tucker spent much of her life idolizing her aunt Tanya Tucker.

"I remember riding in the bus and being backstage at her shows," remembers Tucker in a recent interview with PEOPLE. "I'm sure I went to every city in the country. I just remember it being such a beautiful, fun time."

But then, the tides turned.

"I went through a phase where I didn’t want to do country music," recalls Tucker, a finalist on Season 6 of The Voice. "I didn’t want to be anything like my aunt. I didn't want anyone to think that I was riding her coattails, because I never have. And I never will. She'll always just be my aunt and she's doing her thing, and I'm doing mine. I really wanted to make sure that when people heard my music and people knew me as an artist, they knew this was going to be totally different."

Nevertheless, there a certain blend of sweet and sassy that ultimately runs throughout the entire lineage of the legendary Tucker family, and it's this addictive combination that seems is evident in Tucker's country/pop/R&B infused song "Country Couture."

"I've been living this country couture lifestyle forever, but I never put a name to it," Tucker recalls. "And the 'country couture' line just kind of came to me and I was like, man, I need to write a song about this flip side of my life."

Related: Her 'Wild Child' Days Past, Tanya Tucker Revels in 4 Grammy Noms: 'I've Never Felt Such an Outpouring of Love'

Indeed, Tucker has long flip flopped between her life in Las Vegas where she works as a seasoned singing headliner, and the much more subdued life she still can find in Nashville. In fact, Tucker says she thinks it was Nashville that ultimately inspired "Country Couture," which she ultimately wrote alongside G'harah “PK” Degeddingseze and Tricia Battani.

"It was 2022, and I moved out to Nashville to be with my family to take a breather from Vegas to write and get my bearings again," she remembers. "In Vegas, I was in all these gorgeous gowns and going to these beautiful venues and performing. But now, here I was at the ranch and just putting on a T-shirt and jeans and kicking it with the horses and the birds and the dogs and loving that lifestyle just as much."

And just like her famous aunt, Tucker isn't one to be tied down.

"We don't want to just be put in one little box," says the huge Shania Twain fan. "We want to explore all the different sides of who we are as people and our fashion and the things that we like. I always want to be very exploratory with my brand and how I come across, but at the end of the day, I'm still a t-shirt and jeans kind of gal."

Nevertheless, in the music video for "Country Couture" premiering exclusively on PEOPLE, Tucker tucked her jeans away.

"I wore 32 different outfits,” laughs Tucker, whose mom and renowned recording artist LaCosta Tucker has appeared in every one of her music videos thus far. "It was crazy to have to organize all of that. But it was cool because I got to wear a lot of my mom's vintage dresses and a lot of the dresses that I wore back when I was in pageants."

"Country Couture" also shows off Tucker’s undeniable sense of humor.

"I don't take myself seriously at all," she admits with a laugh. "I think there's a lot of beautiful, serious, talented ladies out there that lean on the beauty and the cuteness. And then I really want to lean on the comedy too."

Related: Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and Songwriter Bob McDill Enter Country Music Hall of Fame

It’s a mixture of traits that she will always share with her famous aunt.

"She is doing her own thing, and we respect her for that," says Tucker. "And we love her for that. And truthfully, I know she respects all different types of music and styles, but her core is real traditional country music. So, I kind of wonder, is my stuff a little too pop for her? I'm almost afraid to ask! But she loves me. That's all that matters."

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