If you’re looking for a new country-pop singer to become obsessed with, look no further. With over 1.6 million followers across all social media platforms and 20k monthly listeners, 20-year-old Brooke Butler is making a name for herself in the music industry. Now dipping her toes in the world of country music, Butler is excited to have her music resonate with a bigger audience with her charming, beautiful lyrics.
I got the chance to speak to her and learn a bit more about her musical journey.
Her Campus: What about music made you say, “That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life?”
Brooke Butler: Great question! I’ve always been drawn towards it, and I grew up doing a ton of musical theater. I genuinely don’t even remember deciding I wanted to do music as a career path; I just always knew it was something I wanted to do. My dad is very musical and plays a lot of instruments. He plays the piano, banjo, and guitar, so I’d always come home to him playing something, and we sang together a lot when I was growing up. My mom always loved to play different music around the house, so it was always around me and something I was drawn to.
HC: Who are some of your musical inspirations?
BB: Right now, since I’m trying to move into this country pop space, I’ve always really loved country music, especially my female artists. I’ve always said Wide Open Spaces by Dixie Chicks is one of my all-time favorite albums, as are Fleetwood Macs’ Rumors and Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts. I would say those three are the top albums that mesh into the music I make.
HC: They’re all so different, so I can’t wait to hear how those inspirations shine through in your music!
BB: They are, and that’s what I love about it! I also listen to Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves, and many other female country artists.
HC: Speaking about your music taste, how has your music changed since you first started writing?
BB: I feel like growing up, I was obsessed with classic rock, so in fifth grade, I was very much like, “I’m not like other girls; I just wanna be in my room and only listen to Queen and the Who.” My mom would tell me if I wanted to be an artist, I had to grow a fanbase and post more, but I would say I hated social media, so I’m happy she got through the pre-teen angst.
When I first started, I would strictly write pop songs. I was working on Chicken Girls as a 14-year-old, so I was only really recording music that people wrote for me, which wasn’t the best teen pop. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a space and demographic for everything, but it just didn’t speak to who I was, and now, even though I’m still young and developing, I’ve started to come into my own a little bit. Being able to write music that speaks to a slightly older audience and a demographic that listens to a little bit more country music definitely feels like a space where I can be a little bit more myself instead of singing what other people write. Now it’s fun because I get to write music for myself and other people!
HC: That’s so great! Speaking about Chicken Girls, how did being on that YouTube show help you gain a platform?
BB: That was a life-changing experience, and I have a long way to go, but Chicken Girls was one of those things that brought me the following I have now. It introduced me to all the people I’m still friends with to this day. As much as the acting was cringe, it was an amazing experience. Because of the audience they grew for that show of younger kids, it brought me opportunities to work with people that led to me more opportunities, and you know, I’ve only been able to grow from there. It was an amazing starting point to launch off from. As much as I joke about it with my friends now, I would never take it back, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it.
HC: So, what has your creative process been like when writing a song?
BB: It’s definitely different every time I go about it, and it depends on who you’re writing with, but generally, I like to always have a concept to start off with. Any song I’m writing, even if it ends up being really general in the way it comes across, I like to remember in my head that there’s a story. If the hook is going to scream the story’s theme, then the verses will contain all the little details that I want to sneak in there, like little subtleties that people might pick up on. I always start off with an overarching concept, usually about my own life or maybe about someone else’s life, but I always like to start off simple, then build up the song with guitars, maybe over a track that someone else has already written, and then production happens after that.
HC: Is that the same process you had when you wrote your released song, “In the Center,” last year?
BB: That’s exactly how I wrote “In the Center!” I wrote that song at home just on my guitar in my room, and then I brought it to a friend of mine, David Kidd, who is a wonderful producer. We started to figure out how to embellish the guitar a little bit and make it sound how I wanted it to. He helped me bring a song I had written at home to life.
HC: What exactly is that song about?
BB: It’s about realizing that a relationship with someone you once really cared about isn’t working, and you’ll have to end it soon. Part of you is torn between remembering all the good times you had, and now, looking around, you realize those things aren’t part of your life anymore, and you’ll have to let them go. It’s sort of bittersweet because it’s remembering how great it was but knowing it’s time to move on.
HC: Talking about singles, recently, you’ve been teasing some songs on your TikTok. Can we expect more music from you soon? What kind of music is it?
BB: I am putting out new music soon! I switched management a little while back and signed with Universal Music Publishing Group, so since then, I dedicated about four months to just writing sessions and creating new music, so I was back and forth between here in Los Angeles and Nashville. I was getting together with writers I’ve worked with before and new writers I hadn’t worked with before and experimenting with them. I was just unleashing whatever was going on in my brain, which ended up being very therapeutic, and we got so many songs out of that.
Songwriting is like building a muscle. If you haven’t done it in a long time, you might suck, and it might be hard, but if you do it regularly, songs flow out of you like nothing. That’s why songwriters, especially in Nashville, who write constantly, are so quick with lyrics and ideas because that muscle is constantly being worked out. We were just writing out songs every single day for months, and now I’m teasing a bunch of songs, which I’m super excited about! It feels like the start of a new chapter, so I’m pumped for people to hear all the music I’ve been listening to for months.
HC: What is one unreleased song you’re most excited to release?
BB: I’m putting out this song called “California Country,” which is such a unique song for me. I wrote this song very quickly, and I absolutely love it. I feel like people expect country artists to be from the South, but you know, both my parents listened to country music growing up, and it’s a genre I always loved. So this song is about me being a California girl who loves country music.
HC: Can’t wait to hear it!
HC: I have one last question before we go. What advice would you give those trying to start a music career?
BB: Just write. Write a bunch of songs and post them on the internet. Maybe no one will hear it, or maybe one of your songs will go viral. As much as it sucks to say and hear, it’s ‘cause social media can be a tough place to navigate, especially if you’re constantly putting out videos on there and it doesn’t perform as well as you hoped, so you feel discouraged, but just do it. Write those songs and post them cause you never know what could happen. Believe in yourself!
You can listen to Brooke Butler’s music on Apple Music and Spotify!