Jillian Jacqueline goes from zero to 60

On Jillian Jacqueline’s debut single, “Reasons,” the country-pop singer describes a relationship that is clearly doomed, even if neither person wants to admit it. The list of excuses is long: “I don’t want to be a quitter, don’t want to have to answer when everybody asks me why … we were supposed to be married by the time we’re 30, breaking up is scary.” Eventually, it reaches the natural conclusion: “I’m so sick of living a lie, so screw all of our reasons why.”

On first listen, however, it’s easy to miss the devastating nature of the surprisingly buoyant track, which practically demands you sing along. That’s Jacqueline’s favorite musical combination.

“I love the juxtaposition of the very heavy words and a very lighthearted melody,” says Jacqueline, who wraps up her first headlining tour on Saturday. “I have a tendency to put a darker twist on a lot of themes.”

Jacqueline’s intriguing spin on country-pop has captured the attention of Nashville singers, songwriters and tastemakers — she’s often one of the first names mentioned in conversations about new rising stars. This past fall, she released her second EP, “Side B,” which has racked up millions of streams on Spotify and features a collaboration with Keith Urban (“If I Were You”).

While her music boasts pop and rock influences, Jacqueline, 31, has always been drawn to the country genre.

Jacqueline says the most valuable lesson she’s learned, even as her career has taken off, is patience: “Your career is never going to look the way you think it’s going to look, but if you trust in the process and follow your heart, it’s always going to be better than you thought it could be.” After an exhausting months-long radio tour to introduce herself to country programmers, “Reasons” — which has 16 million streams on Spotify — didn’t crack the Top 50 on the radio chart.

“It was something I was frustrated by,” she says. “But what I realized from that experience, because I didn’t have skyrocketing hit success right off the bat … I learned there are people that love what I do regardless of radio success.”

For the past year, she has been an opening act for some of the biggest names in country music, such as Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge.

“I went from zero to 60 and was in these massive rooms,” Jacqueline says. “I found myself really craving deeper, more intimate connections with fans, especially those who knew my songs. I want to be in a room together where we can all hang out and I can do my thing for an hour.”