Meet BRENNA

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful BRENNA. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with BRENNA below.

BRENNA, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Probably from my parents. I grew up in a household where both parents were higher educated, worked full-time, and made great sacrifices to build a better life for my sister and me than they had growing up. Excellence was expected, nothing less was tolerated. I tend to describe myself as a machine. That probably sounds miserable out of context, but there was also a lot of love in the house as well. Fortunately, life experience from growing up has added new meaning to why I am a machine–because when I take responsibility for my life and actions, anything is possible. I don’t just work hard for working’s sake. My actions translate into results. My strength has always been that I can and will outwork the next person every time, and I don’t give up easily. I’ve also come to learn there is no such thing as “winning” a pursuit in life in the traditional sense of the word…”winning” just means staying in the game. A lot of really talented people I grew up with aren’t doing music anymore. These kids were incredible singers and performers and would win the solos and lead roles in productions and things over me…but are they doing music or in the arts anymore? No. I never gave up. I just stayed in the game.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Oh goodness where do I even start… My musical journey began before I was even born, as my parents met in a band in New York City. My dad played anything with keys, and my mom sang and played guitar. They moved to Texas so my mom could pursue medical school, then I was born! I’ve been touching instruments since before I could walk, one could argue music was my destiny, it was and is in my blood.

Since I was a kid I’ve always felt emotions super deeply, some would argue too deeply. I never quite felt comfortable in my own skin and I always just felt weird and out of place. I had this big personality growing up, dressed in cargo shorts and band tees…I was loud and fearless. Music was a great outlet for that. I think the purest form of everyone’s existence is the middle school version of ourselves–before life really beats you into conformity and insecurity. Really everything I do now is to honor and protect 13-year old me who was too loud, too weird, and had big dreams.

When I was 13, I discovered Sara Bareilles. Her music was life changing. Seeing a young woman dominate on a stage I just felt it in my blood that’s all I want to do. So I told my dad I wanted to perform original music. He said “ok, get 3 songs together and let’s make it happen”. We spent that whole summer “touring” the Houston open mic scene–so my dad was basically taking his underage daughter to bars every night of the week (which we laugh about because out of context that is super concerning). To this day I don’t know how he did it while working a full time job, but I do remember him dragging by the time Thursday night would roll around. We would sometimes hit multiple bars in a night–we’d sign up at Mucky Duck at 7pm for the 10pm slot, then drive to Avant Garden to sign up at 8pm for the 11pm slot. Then we’d grab dinner, then roll back around for each call time. We always had to leave enough time after my set to network and mingle. I ended up booking a lot of paid gigs and other opportunities from that summer.

I recorded my first project at 16 around the same time I won the House of Blues Battle of the bands as the only solo performer competing against 8 other bands (no one said solo acts couldn’t sign up!) and my second project at 19. Nothing super special in either recorded project, but you could definitely hear the authenticity, the promise, the potential. The problem really was that I hadn’t studied songwriting yet to create art at the level I wanted to and knew I was capable of.

Fast forward to the pandemic–I’m an adult with a full time adult job and 3 elderly rescue dogs to feed. Boy did my life do a 180. But there was a buzzing kind of thing in my ear yearning for music, so I started teaching music at Fort Bend Music Center on the weekends. That didn’t quite satisfy the buzz, so I joined a cover band and started gigging on the weekends. Well now I’m exhausted but still there’s that buzzing. Then I wrote the first song I had in a long time and there it was–Once a songwriter, always a songwriter. Through the curveballs life through at me, I really rediscovered music and figured out who I was as a person. I started studying songwriting, networking virtually in the cowriting space and music for film TV space…I could bore you with the details, but I really started pursuing music for real instead of just a hobby in 2021. I decided I’m going to pursue this until I make it, or until I can’t stand it anymore, whichever milestone comes first.

So fast forward to the present. I have 20 songs signed to different publishing and sync companies being pitched for film/TV opportunities, I have an incredible music community and team, and I’m finally actively releasing music again. I’m really excited for the music I am putting out this year. It has been years in the making. My slogan for my current era of artistry is “Cue the Dramá” (yes with an accent). I’m making light of dark things in my music and exploring the deepest parts of human shadows in a fun, dramatic way. Because in typical Brenna fashion, if no one’s gonna say it, I will. It’s bold, powerful, and takes up space. I hope it inspires people to be and do the same.

As I’m writing this on February 15, I’m counting down till midnight when my next single “Bow Down” will officially come out. I’m really proud of the work I put into the promo for this release, and the data is showing it will be my biggest one yet! It’s a big, powerful anthem that can go in a trailer or in your leg day playlist. I am all about helping people, especially women, feel their power!

I will be putting out new bops every month this year…we are doing the thing! I am so excited to be on this journey, and I hope you join me on it!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
STUDY THE GREATS. FIND MENTORS AND COMMUNITY. NEVER BE DONE LEARNING. CHECK THE EGO AT THE DOOR. Watch your progress skyrocket. It’s that simple.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Ooh, it’s impossible to narrow it down to one person. It really does take a village, and I have the world’s best village. Family is everything to me, they have supported me as I have evolved, had successes, and made mistakes.

Specifically in music industry, I would say my dad. He gave me the confidence and savvy to network with adults as a teenager, though I didn’t realize building genuine and mutually beneficial relationships had a name, it was just something we did as we broke into the music scene. It’s all about your relationships and community. All my strategic and creative thinking I get from him.

In terms of my strength as a woman in a male dominated industry, my mom. She went to med school in the 70’s, talk about being a woman in a male dominated field. I get my strength and my grit from her. My ability to be in front of people and be confident regardless of who is in the room, that’s my mom.

I’d like to point out, my parents met in a local band, they were never in the industry. The only facet of the industry they knew was live gigging, which is its own animal. The rest of the industry I am now working in I had to break in on my own, but I would not have been able to do it without being their daughter.

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Image Credits
Rain, Go Polaris

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