Tenille Townes Is Done With Enabling Others On Her Latest Single

“Enabling” Cover

Country singer Tenille Townes released her latest single, “Enabling,” on January 16, 2026. She’s been part of the music world since her debut single “Somebody’s Daughter” in 2018. Tenille has found success over the years, winning seventeen Canadian Country Music Association Awards, two JUNO Awards, and releasing two albums.

“Enabling” was 100% created by Tenille as she wrote, produced, and arranged the instruments featured. Instead of relying on a beat, the song solely relies on a mandolin and acoustic guitar. It explores the themes of boundaries, self-awareness, and growth.

“Enabling” explores Tenille’s relationship with herself and someone in her life who has an addiction to alcohol. While she’s singing to the other person, she’s not putting blame on them. Instead, Tenille looks at herself and realizes that instead of helping them, she’s been enabling them by continuously trying to fix things herself.

When talking about the song via press release, Tenille explains, “This song is me confronting a lifelong habit of putting others’ needs above my own. Writing it helped me realize that love isn’t self-sacrifice… sometimes the most loving thing you can do is stand your ground and choose yourself.”

Playlists the song could be well suited for include those about responsibility or self-reflection.

“I knew you'd say you’re sorry when you sobered up Doesn't mean it didn't happen just ’cause you were drunk”​

Tenille Townes starts the song off on a high note with these lyrics. Off the bat, listeners know that she’s singing to a person who likes to drink alcohol and get drunk. She starts by calling them out on the apology that they’re giving her. We don’t know whether they said or did something to warrant an apology, but the overall picture is that they did something wrong.

While she could accept the apology, she’s past doing that. She’s letting it be known that they can apologize as much as they want, but it won’t erase what has already been done. This can be relatable to most people who have had to deal with someone who likes to get drunk, only to continuously hear apology after apology as if it’s going to soften what’s happened.

“My hero complex is shaking ’Cause I can't keep waiting for you to start saving yourself”

​During the chorus, Tenille points out how, despite any and everything, she usually finds herself trying to help or fix the other person. She’s exhausted. She’s setting boundaries between the two of them. She sees how the other person isn’t trying to help themselves and doesn’t think it’s right to keep trying to do it for them. If they’re not willing to put in the work to get better, then why should she? Tenille has tried all she could up to this point.

“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when you walk right over me Choosing love ain’t love unless the choosing is free”

This feels like a punch in the gut. She’s being brutally honest, but it’s something that the other person needs to hear. Tenille has been finding herself hurting from what they’ve been putting her through. They’ve been taking advantage of her kindness. Sure, she could sugarcoat it, but sugarcoating how she feels would be the easy way to go about things. Downplaying her feelings isn’t the way to go about that. While she loves the person, she feels as if a lot of pressure is put on her to try to help them, which doesn’t feel like true freedom.

“But I can’t keep waiting I’ve gotta start saving myself”

These powerful lyrics come during the outro of the song and are the last lyrics you hear before Tenille ends the song. Tenille has finally concluded that she needs to stop waiting for the other person to save herself. It’s doing nothing to benefit herself. Instead, she needs to focus her attention on the person who means the most to her: herself. She can’t save everyone, and she understands that by this point in the song. The lyrics hit hard. They send a message to others that instead of trying to focus on helping and fixing others, they should look at what to do for themselves.

​Tenille’s decision to rely solely on instruments and her vocals was an amazing idea. Her doing so gives listeners a chance to focus solely on the lyrics and reflect on their own experiences. “enabling” is a beautifully raw, honest, relatable song, and, dare I say, a masterpiece. Tenille Townes will be headlining her theater tour, The Living Room Tour,” which officially kicks off March 18 in Richmond Hill, ON.

If you would like to know more about her tour or stay up-to-date with Tenille Townes, check out her  Instagram, Soundcloud, TikTok, website, and YouTube.