Country music star admits she faked her engagement to promote latest song

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – AUGUST 03: Harper Grace performs at 107.5 The River on the rooftop featuring AJR at Skydeck at Assembly Food Hall on August 03, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)Getty Images

While her latest single is based on a real-life situation, the way Harper Grace promoted the song had fans thinking she was actually getting married. Turns out, Grace was using the “engagement” as a way to promote her latest single “If Daddy Says No.”

It all started on Jan. 28 when Grace posted a handful of photos on her Instagram feed that implied she was engaged.

“kinda obsessed with how these came out.….. @photosbyzayne thanks for capturing these wonderful photos for us!! excited to share more with yall!!” the caption reads while also including the date 02/27/26 and the hashtags “fiance” and “yes.”

It’s worth noting that at no point in the caption did Grace actually say she was engaged. But many of her 46,000 followers on the platform assumed it was real.

Then on Feb. 15 she posted a behind the scenes clip of the “shoot” where it’s revealed that photos were part of a music video for the song. Two days later, another video features Grace admitting the engagement is fake.

“I have a song coming out February 27 called ‘If Daddy Says No’ and in order to stir the pot a little bit, I am faking an engagement,” Grace says before later adding, “This is either the worst idea ever, or the best idea. I haven’t decided yet.”

Grace admitted she isn’t sure how the ruse will go over and that it could go wrong. To help sell the deception, Grace wore the ring from the photo shoot for a couple weeks hoping people would notice it and buy her story.

That video appears to have been shot the day Grace decided to post the fake engagement photos.

The initial post was met with lots of support from fans and congratulatory sentiments. Similarly, once the fake engagement was revealed, most commenters seemed to laugh at the gag saying they either “knew” it wasn’t real or that they believed the story.

In an interview with Country Now, Grace said she understands people might question the tactic, but says it had a lot to do with the meaning of the song. In her real life, Grace says she was once proposed to by a former boyfriend, but her father wouldn’t give his blessing. Grace says that relationship eventually ended, but inspired the song.

“I think some people are probably going to think I’m crazy for faking my own engagement. But honestly, I got so into just the artistic take on it because the song means so much to me. I wanted to put myself in the position of how I thought it could have played out if I went that route,” Grace said.

The song has been out for less than a week, so it’s unclear if the promotional scheme will lead to major success. As of Wednesday afternoon, the song had been streamed fewer than 20,000 times on Spotify, while the music video has been watched 25,000 times on YouTube.