• Candice Dillard-Bassett embarked on her first-ever headlining tour this month.
• Her debut album, Deep Space, was released one year ago.
• Since joining the Real Housewives of Potomac, she’s worked hard to make music career a reality. 

Candice Dillard-Bassett is basking in the success of her formitable music career.

The Real Housewives of Potomac star embarked on her first-ever headline tour this month, one year after the release of her debut album Deep Space, making stops in cities including Philadelphia, Chicago, Nashville, and Atlanta along the way.

Even Candiace, as her recording career progresses, is still processing this significant milestone.

“I still don’t believe that I’m actually here!” she tells PEOPLE’s Nathan Vinson, ahead of her show Saturday night at City Winery in Washington, D.C. “The Depp Space Tour, this is my thing. This is my brain child. I literally said out of my mouth, ‘I want to do a City Winery tour,’ and my team and manager Nye [Davidson] made it happen. So it’s been so incredible to go out there night after night and live out my dream. It’s really insane to even think about!”

Of course, Candiace did not appear overnight. Since her debut on season 3 of RHOP, when she initially joined the series, the former Miss United States has been pounding the ground to make her music debut a reality.

She sung and recorded the original love song “I See You” for Bassett at her 2018 wedding to husband Chris Bassett, which was documented for season 4 of the Bravo series. The song’s go-go remix feat. Big G and UNO released a song in April 2020 that sparked desire for an entire album from listeners. The song featured Candiace’s beautiful vocals over a more lively accompaniment.

Deep Space was just that; it was released in September 2021 to great praise, amassed over 3 million streams, and gave rise to the smash hit “Drive Back.” It’s an especially satisfying accomplishment considering that Real Housewives stars who have tried to start music careers often don’t go past one-hit wonder status.

“I knew that I would have a sort of uphill battle,” Candiace recalls to PEOPLE. “No shade meant to other Housewives, they’re doing their thing, but there’s this sort of stigma attached to Housewives who sing. ‘Oh, look, it’s another Housewife that wants to do a song.’ So I expected by have to fight against that.”

“I’ve always, in my mind, been an artist. In my heart, I’ve always been a performer and I wanted that to translate to the Bravo audience, but also just to lovers of music, lovers of artistry and lovers of all things this space,” she adds. “So I’ve tried to be very intentional about how I roll out my music, how I roll out my music videos, how I present myself as an artist such that I’m presenting myself in a way that surpasses just being in the Housewife space.”

That doesn’t mean Candiace isn’t appreciative of the Bravo audience’s steadfast support. She says, “They’ve been really fantastic.” Bravo has been very generous to me. I mean, thanks to my platform and my appearance on Bravo, I’ve been able to assemble the incredible team you see around me. I’m therefore thrilled to be a part of it.

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