Corook, Nashville's newest quirky pop singer-songwriter, talks going viral, upcoming show

Corook, the stage name for artist Corinne Savage, is quickly cementing their place as one of Nashville's newest, and quirkiest, pop singer-songwriter forces.

On Friday, the frog hat-wearing, smooth-voiced singer will be headlining a concert in Centennial Park, the Musicians Corner, a series of free performances.

Corook (pronounced kah-ruke) may look familiar because they shot to fame, virtually within hours, after releasing a video singing the song "If I Were a Fish" on TikTok.

In April 2023, Corook posted a video of themselves playing guitar and singing the tune with their girlfriend, singer-songwriter Olivia Barton.

As the two lovingly look into each other's eyes, they sing, "If I were a fish and you caught me I'd say look at that fish / Shimmering in the sun / Such a rare one / Can't believe that ya caught one."

The song's endearing lyrics, its goofiness, and the sweetness of a tune that doesn't take itself too seriously spread across the internet like wildfire.

Everyone on TikTok knew the song, and many couldn't get it out of their head. To date, the original video has over 19.4 million plays on TikTok.

Corook, who grew up in Pittsburgh, moved to Nashville in 2019. They attended Berklee College of Music, where they received two degrees, one in songwriting and another in contemporary writing and production.

That latter degree taught them how to arrange for a band and to write music for commercials. Listeners can hear those clever jingle-like threads in Corook's tunes.

And now Corook, a singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, spends their time creating their own music and touring.

"If I Were a Fish" is their most popular song. Other hits include "It's OK!," "Hell Yeah" and "CGI." They released their album "Serious Person (Part 1)" in June 2023 and "Part 2" in September.

Corook has a serene, conversational voice. It feels like a chat with a close friend when their tunes come in through your earbuds.

And though they first started releasing music in 2021, they really noticed their career taking off after their song blew up on TikTok last year.

"I literally got off stage," they said, "and I was in Los Angeles on a tour. Somebody just handed me (a phone) ... and was like, look, this has a million views and we posted it like 15 minutes ago. I don't think I really understood how viral it was going to be."

A couple of days later, Corook had to go to New York, and they decided to conduct a little test.

"I kind of wanted to see if this is just something that's happening on the phone that's really cute and fun, or if there's actual people that are touched by this song," they said.

So Corook posted online that they would be in a certain park in New York at a certain time. If anyone wanted to meet them and talk about the song, they were welcome. Corook said about 300 people showed up.

"People were like, I took a train in ... I took a bus in from Connecticut. It was absolutely crazy and really, really cool."

Corook discusses living in Nashville, a growing pop music hub

After graduating from Berklee, Corook moved to New York with their partner for a while. Then they made their way to Nashville in 2019, shortly before the 2020 tornado hit and then COVID-19 set in.

While it wasn't the smoothest couple of years for Nashville, Corook has been settling into the pop music community in town.

"The pop community here is absolutely thriving and growing," they said.

They shouted out their partner, Barton, for being one of the best pop songwriters in town. They also gave kudos to artists Liv Greene, Josie Dunn, Savanna Santos and Alex Hope.

"I think that pop people maybe have to struggle a little bit more to find community here," they said.

"But we are all alive and well and searching for each other all the time. ... I think that Nashville has the community of the best songwriters in the world."

Right now, Corook is splitting their time between Nashville and Eugene, Oregon, working on a new record with their friend Ehren Ebbage. They don't know when fans can expect the record to drop since it's in the early stages, but they called working on the project a "dream come true."

"It feels like when I first started making music," Corook said. "It's just elevated a little bit more. It's going to be just as heartfelt as a lot of my other stuff, and also just as fun and weird as the others."

And now, they're gearing up for a show at Centennial Park's Musicians Corner on Friday.

The free concert series has taken place for 15 years, featuring some of Nashville's most notable artists. Past headliners have included Emmylou Harris, Chris Stapleton and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

"I'm super honored to be part of such an amazing Nashville community event. ... I'm really excited to be a different flavor on the stage and to get up there with a bunch of legends."

To learn more about Corook head to corook.com. To learn about Musicians Corner concerts, head to musicianscornernashville.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville pop star Corook gears up to play Musicians Corner concert