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

Up to this point, TikTok star Erin Kinsey has held her budding country music career firmly in her own hands. She's held the camera and pointed the lens directly toward her, and the authenticity and heart and talent that shined straight through that lens went and made her a viral phenomenon.

But now, she's got people for that.

"Everything has been such a whirlwind," Kinsey, 21, tells PEOPLE mere days after signing her record deal last month with RECORDS Nashville. "It was one of those things I thought was years and years and years away that just kind of happened. I'm just so excited to have people around me who are just as excited about my career as I am."

And in her new music video for her viral hit "Just Drive," premiering exclusively on PEOPLE, it was those people who helped create a stunning visual representation of the carefree feelings that come via young love and long windy roads.

"Having people who are experts in the field being in charge of [the music video] was just incredible," says Kinsey, who began pursuing music at the age of 11 years old, eventually moving from Texas to Nashville the day after her high school graduation. "I was able to say what I would love to see, and they just took that and turned it into something truly magical."

But make no mistake — Kinsey has every intention of remaining in the driver's seat of a career that shows no signs of slowing down.

"We had a lot of conversations about the narrative and what the video would look like," says the talented multi-instrumentalist, who can play everything from the electric guitar to the banjo to the drums. "We ended up keeping some of the things from TikTok, like me singing in the car and playing guitar. It stays true to who I am and what I love to do."

The song itself has already been on an almost unfathomable journey already, hitting a million views mere hours after it was initially released this past July. Since then, "Just Drive" has garnered more than 14 million views on TikTok and over 27 million combined audio/video streams to date.

"One of the craziest things about this song is how all of the girls who are listening to it and loving it are just like me," remarks Kinsey. "Whether they are in a relationship or with their best friend or even alone in their car, they can relate to the details of the song, from the 'white Toyota' to driving down interstate 40 listening to Paramore. People all go through so many similar experiences around the world. We all experience the same kind of thing."

And while Kinsey takes a supporting role in the music video for "Drive," with two actors playing out their love story on screen, Kinsey's real-life love story wasn't far from her mind during the filming of the music video.

"I have a boyfriend of five years," she says of her longtime love Josh, who is currently a senior at Belmont University in Nashville. "We started dating my freshman year of high school. So yeah, he's my love interest."

In fact, the lyrical backbone of the song comes straight from their relationship.

"The song was about when we were going to the frickin' Melting Pot for Valentine's Day when we were in high school," laughs Kinsey of the song she wrote alongside Michael August and Josh Ronen this past May, as she set out to create a bit of a 'country-alternative' song. "The song is very much about us. I remember we were listening to music and literally just jamming out on the way there, and I remember thinking, I'd be so OK not even going there and just driving around and then going home. I was just having fun having time with him."

In the end, it's a normal story that made for an incredible song.

"My audience and my fans are literally just girls like me around the country and around the world," she says. "I didn't go to college. I'm not married. I don't have children. So, it's cool to feel like I have this group of girls that I'm connecting with that enjoy the same things I do and enjoy the things I write songs about. They absolutely have gotten me everywhere that I am."