Rising Star Maggie Baugh Spotlights 'Both Sides' of a Breakup with 'Drinking to the Broken Hearts'

"We all go through breakups, and we all go through hard times," Baugh tells PEOPLE about her recent single and new music video

Classically trained multi-instrumentalist Maggie Baugh was 6 when she started playing the violin and only 11 when she found herself playing Carnegie Hall. But just a year later, she was bullied by those whose dreams weren't as big as hers — so, she resorted to songwriting.

"I had to write my feelings down," Baugh, 21, tells PEOPLE. "I chose music as an outlet instead of doing something horrible that kids do now when they're depressed and bullied. I fell in love with music and pouring my heart out into words."

And in doing that, Baugh found another path to Nashville, where she'd eventually play alongside the likes of Luke Bryan and Trace Adkins in Adkins' music video for "Where the Country Girls At."

"Being a multi-instrumentalist has really opened a lot of doors for me," says Baugh, who has also played with the likes of Kane Brown and Luke Combs. "If I wasn't a musician at heart, I probably wouldn't have been able to get that opportunity."

Maggie Baugh
Zack Knudsen

"I feel like I'm not just going down just one path. I'm playing on stage with a number of big label acts. I'm getting hired for session work. I've gotten hired as a backup fiddle player," she adds. "And all of these things have really shaped me into being a better musician all around, which has helped me become the artist that I have been today."

Indeed, Baugh is finding that she craves the spotlight, and the Florida native is finding that it via her songs, including "Drinking to the Broken Hearts." (She premieres the music video with PEOPLE.)

"I came up with the line 'drinking to the broken hearts' and I just knew that there was some magic to that line," she says. "I knew that I had to bring it to another songwriter to bring it to life. So, I brought it to Barrett Baber with the hopes that he could help me write a song from both the male and female perspectives about what happens after a breakup."

"We all go through breakups, and we all go through hard times. So, I really wanted to showcase both sides of what happens," she adds.

Maggie Baugh
Jordan Merrigan

And no, she wasn't going through a breakup at the time she was writing it.

"I normally write songs from my own experience, but it didn't happen like that this time," says Baugh. "I feel like music has always just been my boyfriend. So, whenever I have a boyfriend, it's always like, 'Oh, you're just temporary.' But when I do go through a breakup, I don't go to the bar. I put my guitar in my hands. The overall concept of the song was to show people that you're not alone."

And in the music video — filmed everywhere from her little home in Nashville to a trailer park an hour outside of Nashville — Baugh brings this relatable perspective home and showcases who she is at her core and her bohemian aesthetic.

"I fall asleep with my guitar next to me all the time," she says with a laugh of the guitar featured in the video. "When I have a song idea, I literally can't stop."

The music video for "Drinking to the Broken Hearts" also features her writing journal.

"I'm an old soul in that way," says Baugh. "Heck, I still have a planner like I did back in high school. I really want people to be able to not only relate to my music but to relate to me as a human too."

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