AUBORY BUGG

ABOUT this week’s guest:

credit: Caity Krone

This week I am super excited to introduce you to newcomer, Aubory Bugg, who has just released their full length debut, i think i had something once. Now based in Nashville, Aubory grew up in the old steel mill town of Granite City, Illinois. While it wasn’t always easy growing up queer and an artistic kid in an industrial town, the loving support of their hard working parents ingrained in Aubory the heart, grit, and understanding that if you want something, you have to work for it. So work at it they did, playing trumpet in marching band, then piano lessons, and by age 12, shifted their focus to guitar. Soon, Aubory was writing their first songs using personal journal entries sung over guitar and, by age 13, started performing in local coffee houses. They knew they wanted to do music but didn’t see it as a possible career until 2022 when, after three years of competing, they won the St. Louis teen talent competition in their senior year of high school. In their sophomore year of college, family hardship struck, and Aubory dropped out to help out at home. It ended up leading Aubory to an even stronger resolve to make a career in music happen. In 2024, while working two jobs to help support their family, they decided to try building a platform on TikTok by doing a cover a day. Their cover of “tummy hurts” by Renee Rapp went viral and eventually, one of their original songs called “friends”. Aubory's self-produced debut ep muscle memory was released in 2025, comprising five songs that beautifully describe the central themes of Aubory’s life up to that point: wanting to belong, not fitting in, and all the while knowing her future is elsewhere. that future has brought them to a new life in Nashville, a record deal with Dualtone records, and now a full length debut album, i think i had something once. We celebrate its arrival and welcome Aubrey Bugg as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.

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