Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Brielle: I was born in Jamestown, NY, a city just South of Buffalo. I’ve known that I am an artist since the day I was born; I started ballet when I was two, I was in my first musical when I was four, and I wrote my first song when I was fourteen. Although, it wasn’t until I recorded my own demo of Lily Allen’s “Who’d Have Known” when I was fifteen that my parents realized that I was serious about a career in music.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Brielle: Brielle is my real name, not a stage name. Before my parents had me, they were visiting Brielle, New Jersey and thought that Brielle would be a great name for a girl, and voila!
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Brielle: At the start of my career, I gave all of my singles away for free because I wanted as many people as possible to be able to hear me. Growing up in the era of illegally downloading music, I can’t name one person my age that I know of who hasn’t done it, and I was guilty of doing it when I was younger as well. I think music sharing, on paper, is a brilliant way to give the consumers what they want for less money and still provide the artists who dedicate their lives and all of their resources to make the music some way of surviving. But, there is still a mountain to climb to alter the state of music sharing so that it is sufficiently beneficial to the artists as well.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Brielle: Having a following is key. You could be an amazing musician/band, but radio stations and venues won’t risk their reputations and play or book you unless they know that you will sell tickets and enhance their business as well. They only want situations that are a win for them, so it’s important to get creative (yes, business requires creativity too!) and figure out ways to get noticed. You have to be the one to create those win/win situations for you and the venues/radio stations.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Brielle: I definitely have had my fair share of mistakes. It’s not the fall that matters, it’s if and how you get back up from that fall. During a show a few years back, in the middle of a song I had written and been performing for about five years, I completely forgot the second verse! Instead of stopping, stuttering, or panicking, I made up and sang a whole new verse on the spot, and anyone who wasn’t already familiar with the song was none the wiser. Sometimes mistakes can even give you great ideas that you never would have thought of had you not made a mistake.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Brielle: I have not yet done an official tour, but that is definitely on the top of my list of goals. I want to tour the entire World!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Brielle: Inspiration comes from anywhere and anything at any time for me, and I do not have one type of songwriting process. Sometimes inspiration comes from every day relationships, sometimes it comes from literature that I’m reading, sometimes it comes from daydreams or night dreams, sometimes it comes from something I overhear someone say, I could go on. It’s all about what you pay attention to in life. Anyone will only find inspiration in the things this or her mind is focused on. I try to be aware of every minute thing around me and inside of me so that I can truly listen to the ideas that are being given to me; it’s up to me to pick which one I want. As far as songwriting goes, sometimes words flood to me and I develop a melody and have a beat created after the song is written, sometimes I derive the melody and song concept from a beat that a producer plays me, and sometimes the melody comes first! I feel that following a defined formula would be limiting to me.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Brielle: Yeah! My website is brielleonline.com, and on it you can find all of my music videos, my album, upcoming news and tour/dates, and all of my other social media. My twitter and Instagram handle is @brielle_music and my Facebook page is facebook.com/briellemusic. You can find my music on the usual platforms: iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Pandora; and there are a few other apps that have my music as well:)
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Brielle: Hahaha oh gosh, probably scratch recordings of early songs that I never produced and will most likely never release. I think I also still have this song that my brother and cousin made on garage band, probably from eight years ago, where they sing about this monster coming to get them in really funny voices and it ends with them screaming. I thought it was hilarious at the time and I completely forgot about it until just now.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Brielle: With zero hesitation, I would travel the world. I want to experience and learn about every culture possible. That would be a pretty kick-ass year.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Brielle: Right now, I am working with Water Music Publishing on my Sophomore release. I want to take everything further, deeper, and more extreme on my next album and I’m always always always striving to better my songwriting craft.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Brielle: I have found that there is no better way to promote your music than to do it yourself. No one knows your vision, your goals, or your message as clearly or as completely as you do, so who better to connect with people and touch hearts than yourself? Promotion is technically the business side of music, but, like I said earlier, business is creative too! In music, you can’t really do what has been done because what works for one artist wont work for all artists, so it’s vital to be innovative in connecting with people in order to get their attention and make them hear you in the roaring sea of noise that the music business is.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Brielle: It is my dream to work with and perform with Kid Cudi. He has endlessly inspired me since I first listened to “Day ’N’ Nite” when I was in seventh grade. He is the ultimate living musical genius, in my opinion.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Brielle: I recently released four new singles, “You Are Worth Dying For”, “Playing With Danger”,
“Stranger”, and “Who’d Have Known” and I will be performing all of these songs together, for the first time, at The Blue Room in Secaucus, NJ on March 19th. I’d love for everyone to come! Tickets are at aftonshows.com/brielle.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Brielle: I went to school at the Fashion Institute of Technology for Fashion Design, but I didn’t finish because I chose my music career over designing. If I never stopped going to school and I weren’t doing music, I would probably be getting ready to graduate this May and continue on to get my Masters.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Brielle: Oh yeah! It was the dual album that N’Sync and Britney Spears had that was sold at McDonald’s. I was so insane about HAVING to have that album that I, who hated McDonald’s and never threw fits, threw a giant fit until someone (I think it was my aunt) drove me there and bought me a happy meal and the album. I was in heaven.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Brielle: It gets pretty difficult. There are a lot of aspects to the music business that the general public doesn’t think of. Especially because I am an independent artist, I have to wear all of the hats in the industry at one time or another. I have to try not to get tunnel vision with any one area of my life, because all of the parts of my life, my music, and my business need to work in tandem not only for me to be successful, but for me to survive as a human being. I can’t neglect any one part of this industry or the train stops and the whole thing falls apart.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2017?
Brielle: I will be starting to travel and perform all over the country, so follow me on social media to see if I will be in your area soon!
