As someone who studies creative writing, I have been taking more poetry classes. One of the classes that stood out to me was a lyrical poetry class I took last semester. It was fun and made me want to study songwriting. Now, lyrical poetry was not about studying song lyrics. There was a sub-section in it that talked about it, but overall, it was about how we utilize image, sound, and emotions in our writing.
It made me wonder more about writing and music. For me, music is something that carries me throughout the day. I have music playing whenever possible, and if I am not connected to my AirPods, I get lost throughout that duration of time. So I decided to interview someone who I knew who has studied music production and wrote their own songs. They are an amazing creator, and I have been rooting for them consistently. It is inspiring to see how someone crafts a song, not only in the lyrics but the actual musical portion.
- Tell me about yourself.
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My name is Brandon, I’m 22 years old, and my artist name is BRAZN. I make electro-pop music and have been writing and producing my own music for about 6 years now. I also just started writing and producing for other artists.
- What inspired you to go into the music industry as a career?
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Music has always been a passion of mine ever since I was 2 years old. I loved performing in musicals, bands, choirs, acapella groups, etc. all throughout my time at school. It was the one thing I felt I was really good at. I’ve always had a lifelong desire to make a living off of performing my original music, but after studying at Drexel University towards a degree in the music business, I realized that there are different avenues in the music industry that I can take that are equally as interesting to me as performing is. While I’m still working towards my goal of being a full-time artist, I’m also still navigating the different routes that I can take to be a part of the music industry.
- What led you to write your own music?
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I technically started writing in middle school, but my best songwriting (the stuff that I released) didn’t come out until the end of high school. I did it because it was so cathartic to me (as I’m sure it is with all songwriters). To me, songwriting has always been the best and most effective way of getting my feelings out on paper pertaining to a particular subject.
- What is the process of songwriting and producing like? What’s your process like compared to someone who is more experienced in the industry?
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It varies with each song that I create. For songwriting, I’ll usually come up with a melody first and then write lyrics that go along with it. Sometimes, I’ll think of a certain topic and write about that as if I’m having a conversation with myself, which then becomes a song. For production, I’ll usually just play around on my piano and find different chords that I like and put them together. Then I’ll build off of that chord structure with drums and bass and then I add different instruments from there. The whole process together takes a lot of time, but it is so rewarding in the end.
I think what’s different about the process for me compared to someone who is more experienced is the time that I have and the room I have for growth. It is exciting, but also very nerve-wracking at the same time. When you’re working in such a competitive and fast-paced industry, you feel like you have to know everything right from the start (which isn’t the case) and you feel this pressure to put out content so quickly and consistently. But in reality, the time that I have now as a small artist is a time that I (as well as other small artists) shouldn’t take for granted because it’s actually super helpful. I don’t have as much pressure put on me (as someone who’s more experienced would) to put out content consistently and I can take my time on my music to add details I want to make my full vision for a song come to life.
- What is a challenge that you’ve faced with music and how did you overcome it?
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Learning how to market yourself. If you’re trying to make it big, that’s how you have to do it and I’m still overcoming that fear of “what if people think I’m annoying?”. The truth is, no one’s going to hear your stuff unless you push and promote your music. To go along with that, establishing a brand to make yourself more marketable is also extremely challenging. I’m definitely a lot more confident now with marketing myself and I’m getting over that fear of feeling like I’m burdening people with my music, but all of that is trial and error. Learning from your mistakes from your previous releases and learning how other established artists market themselves is definitely a way to overcome this problem.
- What is your favorite song that you produced and why?
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My favorite song that I produced is definitely ANDRO. I worked really hard on the songwriting, production, and aesthetic for the song itself and it came out exactly how I wanted it to look and sound. It’s also super empowering and has a great message behind it.
- What is something you would like to try with songwriting?
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This may sound weird, but I want to try not to think too hard about it. I can struggle with writing lyrics that may be a little too “metaphorical” (I wrote poems a lot as a kid), and while that can be a good thing, it loses relatability, which is something you want when you’re releasing music out into the public. So I want to focus on writing lyrics that are relatable to a wider range of people, but also with a healthy balance of metaphorical language in there too.
- What do you have in store for the future with your music?
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I’m gonna be releasing a single this year (hopefully soon) as well as a potential second single before I release my EP that I plan to release near the end of this year or the beginning of the next year. More music videos will be made and hopefully more live performances as well.
Right now, BRAZN is offering services in songwriting/production/and mixing. Their goal is to make your vision for a song come to life and to cater to (or help find) your unique sound. So if you are looking for an opportunity to work on your music, contact BRAZN.
What I took away from BRAZN is that being an artist is not easy. There are a lot of things to consider, but it is fulfilling to know that there are people who will appreciate your hard work at the end of the day. It may be biased for me to ramble about how cool I think BRAZN is because I know them, so I will try not to do that. However, it is cool to know how there are people like them out there creating so much art that people can enjoy. It is a lot of hard work, and it can come with a lot of challenges. However, talking to BRAZN makes me think about how much meaning people can create with words and great tunes.