Erin Kinsey Lets Out Her Sassy Side in 'Gettin' Away with It' BTS Alongside Fellow TikTok Star Zoey Aune (Exclusive)

"Sometimes, I'm just fine pissing off some people," the rising country star tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "And that's freeing"

Erin Kinsey built a career on songs about her now ex-boyfriend.

"Despite the songs I write, I wish him nothing but the best," Kinsey, 23, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview with a little laugh. "I hope he is happy, and I hope that he and his wife are happy."

The words roll off easily, as if the Texas native has firmly put the past relationship that inspired love-heavy songs such as "Just Drive" and "Vegas" on the back burner. "Life happened and we grew up," she quickly continues. "I think for a while we thought we were the same people that we were in high school than we really were. And at some point, we faced that."

And while Kinsey has most certainly grown personally and professionally before our very eyes, she’s still putting out music that contains a tinge of the leftover pain from the 2021 breakup.

Take her song "I Ain’t Crazy."

"We were trying to force something into something it shouldn't have been, but I’ve been able to get some really fun songs out of it," Kinsey says.

"In that moment, when I wrote that song [with Travis Wood and Casey Brown], I was wondering about if he was closer with this girl than he said, and I went into this just honestly feeling like I almost kind of hope he was, because then at least that meant my intuition is right. I felt like I was more upset about doubting my intuition than even what was going on."

So yes, the girl with the ever-present smile might still be a little annoyed. "You can hear a little bit of the anger in the song," she admits.

Related: Viral Phenomenon Erin Kinsey Finds Herself on a Brand-New Road with New Music Video for 'Just Drive'

It's far from an anger that consumes her though, as Kinsey has far too much on her plate to spend time dwelling on old news. Instead, Kinsey says she has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the woman she now is, without him by her side.

"When he was not in the picture, all of a sudden I had complete freedom to be whoever I wanted to be," explains Kinsey, who is currently out on tour with William Clark Green. "Asking myself the question, 'Who do I want to be?' has sort of shocked me."

For example, Kinsey loves to work out now. She listens to different types of music. And she likes to show off her sassy side, as seen in the new music video for her new song "Gettin' Away with It," which features fellow TikTok star Zoey Aune.

"Sometimes, I'm just fine pissing off some people," Kinsey says with a laugh. "And that’s freeing. It’s nice to be creating deep relationships, but also being free in them to grow up still."

Not surprisingly, her fans are loving this new side of Kinsey.

"It's been really fun to lean into the not-so-pretty stuff and just be so extra human on a platform that can easily be polished up and turned into the perfect highlight reel so quickly," says Kinsey, who will release her new EP Gettin’ Away with It on Oct. 11. "It’s been fun to do the absolute opposite of that on social media."

And while Kinsey seems hesitant to discuss her current relationship status, the mere sound of her voice seems to point that all is good in the love department.

"I'm trying to figure out what to say," she chuckles. "But you know what? I'm really happy. I feel like I'm so much more myself and the people around me are definitely a big part of that."

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