Exclusive Interview: Brynn Cartelli Talks Out of the Blue, Taking Up Space in the Studio and Experimenting, the Magical Process of Putting Her Debut Album Together, and More

Singer-songwriter Brynn Cartelli has solidified her place as a defining voice of her generation. With her compelling lyricism and undeniable vocal talent, Brynn effortlessly crafts vivid imagery through her words, drawing from personal experiences that resonate universally with listeners.

In her debut album, Out of the Blue, Brynn takes listeners on her journey from Massachusetts to New York during a pivotal time in her life. Through her music, she delves into the complexities of relationships, leaving home, and self-discovery.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak With Brynn about the magical process putting together her debut album, Out of the Blue, taking up space in the studio and the joys of experimenting, shedding parts of herself to become the person and artist she is today, and more.

PC: Many of the songs on Out of the Blue were written during this transitional period in your life. You were very intentional about the way you released the singles off the album and the journey from Massachusetts to New York. How did that journey ultimately manifest itself into your debut album? When did you start to see the through line and that connective tissue?
Brynn: I was living it. I was really excited about coming to New York. I’ve always been a very hopeful person. I knew that was the end goal. I knew all of the experiences and the heartbreaks that I was living through in high school would lead me to where I was going. At the time, I was listening to all this music that felt like the East Coast. It felt like New York and moving to this big city. I was romanticizing it in my mind.

In writing the album, I had a lot of conversations about the time that I was living in the moment. Being present in this in-between, and talking about liminal space and these places that aren’t here nor there, but how important that is, and how interesting it would be to write songs about that. We all have these transitional moments in our life, and there’s a lot of talk about the destination, but I’ve always been a process, and the journey type of girl.

My favorite part is to relax and acknowledge where I’m at. I’m halfway out the door but here’s the thing that I’m worried is still attached to me, but I’m looking forward to this thing. How am I going to change? What am I going to let go of? There are a lot of questions that are asked in these moments. You can reinvent yourself, but you want to stay true to you.

There are so many facets of moving and starting over that are so interesting. Yes, I’m here in New York and I could write that album, and I’m writing more songs about what it is like to actually be here, but there’s something really fun about writing about something while you’re in it and it’s happening. My songs are my journals, so I just write what’s going on in my life.

PC: That’s a beautiful sentiment about embracing what you’re experiencing in the moment and not looking too far ahead. There’s so much growth that you can hear in your artistry with this album. What did you learn putting together Based on a True Story EP that you were able to bring to your debut album?
Brynn: The writing overlapped a bit. One of the songs on Based on a True Story, “Jane,” came while I was writing songs for Out of the Blue. But to me, that song felt like it was for Based on a True Story.

There was a moment in the studio when I was writing one of the first songs that would go on Out of the Blue where I shed the fear of being a young girl in the studio with a producer who had been doing it for twenty years or however long. Instead of shrinking myself and trying to take up as little space as possible, I decided to embrace the opportunity fully. I played every instrument, even if I didn’t know how, and let whatever sounds came out of me flow freely. It felt like magic. That shift marked the difference between Based on a True Story and Out of the Blue where I became fully immersed in the creative process. While I love collaborating, there’s something liberating about being able to experiment and explore on my own terms.

It’s also a transition in the lyrics and what I’m going through, but sonically, it’s also a transition from the foundation of what I love, which is singer-songwriter, acoustic pop. I’m influenced by country songwriting, so sometimes people throw me in country, and how simple Based on a True Story was. This is a step up from that and that’s always been my plan since I wrote it. It goes from here to here to here. Sonically, it’s a lot more elevated as well.

PC: What’s so impressive about Out of the Blue is that every song on it is incredible. Usually when you’re listening to an album, there’s a song or two that you might skip, but this is such a cohesive body of work with so much dimension and contrast. How mindful were you of that as you were creating this album and bringing all these different layers to it?
Brynn: Definitely. There are a lot of songs that I call sister songs. They’re one half of the story, and I tie them together. I was thinking about that while writing. It wasn’t something that was forced. I just had stories that I felt I hadn’t finished with yet.

So we can write about it from this perspective on a song like “Boy from Home,” and then I can talk about it in a happier way in a song like “Running in Place,” but these are two songs that are essentially about the same thing, but one’s in retrospect and the other has so much hope. It just happened naturally. As we were doing more production and getting into the nitty-gritty of it, I became more aware. There are little elements like those two songs have subway car noises in them that I recorded from my phone. It’s so detailed but there are little moments like that where they’re pieced together.

Songs like “Beginning of the End,” “The Blue,” and “Play with Fire” are these big, pop-rock moments. They’re tracks 1, 4, and 13. They’re holding up the album in a way, placement-wise. I really wanted songs like that.

When I wrote “The Blue,” I had the title in my notes for months. I cried when I finished it. You can talk to Henrik [Michaelson] who produced it. There’s something so magical that happens when you have the vision and it’s so tiny and in your notes and then everything pieces together in the most magical way.

I’m happy that you can hear the cohesiveness. It’s pretty crazy how it happened. I set out with a goal and I can look back and be like what a whirlwind. Here we are. Somehow, it worked.

PC: It’s such a great body of work. I’ve listened to Track 1 to 14 back to back several times. There’s so much vulnerability on this album too. Has it ever been a scary prospect to be as open as you are in your songwriting? Has it gotten easier over time?
Brynn: Not really. [laughs] It’s so easy to write about my deepest secrets, how much shame I’ve felt in my life, sadness, and all these things, and the drama of being twenty years old and younger than that. But when it comes to releasing it, I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that it’s real. Seeing the track list and knowing they’re out there, it’s a bit surreal.

I do it because the songs that I love the most, the ones that have carried me through the worst of times, are the ones that I know could not have been easy to record and release. In those moments when I’m at my worst and I’m writing, it just pours out of me. You can hear it in some of the demos and the voice memos. I’m literally improvising and writing. I’m so shocked by what I’m saying. I gasp. I’m like, “Okay, we’re going there. Let’s keep going.” But I find that those details and those little moments are the ones that we attach ourselves to as listeners. It’s my job to make people understand.

I’ve played some of those unreleased ones live, and it’s always that one tiny little thing every time that I don’t think anyone will notice, and they’ll be like, “That’s my favorite part and that’s the part that I relate to the most.” Even though I thought it was so specific to my experience. That’s why I do it. It’s unbelievable that it happens, but it is quite terrifying. I can’t lie.

PC: It’s a testament to your craft as a songwriter where it feels very personal to you, but listeners can take these songs and bring them into their own lives. I imagine as an artist, you’re constantly writing, and part of that creative process is surrendering to the song. What is the track on Out of the Blue that you had to surrender to?
Brynn: [laughs] There are a couple. I’ve said those exact words before. With “Boy from Home,” it’s such a simple song. There were like 70 crazy different versions of that song. I was trying to make it fit a certain moment on the record, but eventually, we had to stop. I thought, “This is a mess.” I was about to scrap it. But our A&R people were like, “You can’t. You have to have this song out there.” I was like, “You know what? Let’s do it.” Let’s listen to what the song wants. Let’s not think about it in the scope of this album. Certain songs you can think about in that way. But with “Boy from Home,” we had to ask what the song was asking for. It was truly acoustic. It can have big moments, but we’re not playing with synths on this one. We’re not adding all the bells and whistles. At first, I was like, “No. No.” But I love how it sounds. There’s a video that I sent to Adam [Argyle] who produced it when we finally got it right, and I’m sitting in bed sobbing. It’s also a personal one. It didn’t hit for me until I listened to it and it started to sound right. I was like, now I feel it. This is how it’s supposed to be. That was definitely one that I had to surrender to because I fought it for so long. [laughs]

PC: [laughs] You also create such vivid imagery with your lyrics. How much do you contribute that to the director in you? Do you have a favorite lyric that you’ve written?
Brynn: Thank you. The part of me that directs and does the visuals comes after the writer in me. I write the song, and the way I judge whether or not I like the song is if I can see it. I don’t want it to stop me from writing what has to come out, even if sometimes it’s not super clear.

There are a couple of moments that I really love in “Running in Place.” There’s a line: “There’s a suitcase ready. Right next to my bed. Don’t you tempt me. Or I’ll be gone in 10.” There’s nothing genius about it. It’s just really awesome because that’s truly how I was the entirety of writing this album. When I was living at home, I would never put a suitcase away. It was always ready to go. I had no idea where I would go next, especially because it was COVID and coming out of that. But all my friends would be like, “Why is this in your room?” I would say, “It can’t leave. It has to be there.” They know I’m crazy about it.

There’s also a line in “Play With Fire”: “Carve it in your marble grave.” I wanted to use the marble grave. It felt sassy and right for that song.

There are a couple of really fun moments with “Darker Days” as well. There were a lot of really visual things that I was inspired by. The world felt real there. Thank you. I’m happy that you like it.

PC: It’s an incredible album. I feel like you transport your fans and listeners to the state of mind that you were in when you were writing those songs. This is going to be a strange question because every song is so personal to you, but if you had to select one off Out of the Blue that best encompasses who you are as an artist at this moment, which would it be and why?
Brynn: Right now, I would say “The Blue.” That feels like the most me. I did a lot of the production on that. I’ve never been that involved in that side of the craft. It references a lot of Brian Eno when he produced Coldplay’s Viva La Vida album. I was pulling from there and listening to a lot of that because it’s anthemic but so personal and so tiny in the details.

But sonically, it’s so fun to sing. Honestly, I’ve had a lot of these songs for a while. Things get moved around. It’s a lot of work. I work really hard. Some days I’m like, “What is this for?” I get emotional talking about it, but I won’t. I put on “The Blue,” and I’m like, “We’re here.” I love this song. I love this music. This is going to come out. I love that song. It has saved me from so many things like quitting and all of that.

PC: It’s crazy to think that you’ve been in this industry for a couple of years now and you’re only twenty. You feel like such a veteran. With this being your debut album, what was the most surprising part about putting this all together? What do you hope listeners take away after they hear it?
Brynn: The time it took to make an album. I probably won’t take this long again. I’ll be faster next time. I definitely learned that. It’s always been a dream of mine. Even when I first started out, it was song by song, but to build a world and have fourteen songs to do it feels so amazing and inspiring. It’s the most magical experience. I really like what that means. If we’re going to build this world, what has to exist in it.

I hope people take away this sense of friendship from it. I’m a songwriter. My favorite artists feel like my friends. I know so much about their lives, and I know they don’t know the ways that they’ve helped me, but I want to do that for somebody else.

It doesn’t feel to me unreachable. There was no magic dust sprinkled into my cereal growing up. I just love music. I like to work at it. I made an album and a lot of lucky things have happened along the way, but there are so many people out there from all over the world who don’t think they can do this because of all these reasons. But the album is about hope and it’s about going after what they believe in and what they want to do in their lives, and in that sense, I hope it’s inspirational. I want that to be felt.

Also, the things that you have to let go of. You have to shed versions of yourself to become who you have to be. I hope people feel held in that process because that’s how my favorite artists treat me. I want to do that.

PC: There’s a portion of music that’s supposed to be really entertaining to listen to, and then there’s another portion that has the ability to make an impact, and you’ve absolutely done that with this album. You set the bar very high for yourself. So often when artists release projects, they hit the road to support it. Are there plans to tour in 2024? Out of the Blue feels like one of those albums that could be performed at a stadium or a more intimate setting. What will a possible tour look like for you?
Brynn: It’ll look like a great time. That’s awesome and so cool that you think that because I wrote it thinking about stadiums and arenas but also in a club, and I love that. I’m really, really excited to play these live shows. There are definitely plans to do that. It’s one of my favorite parts. I’m working on arranging and planning all that right now. It’s definitely coming. Like you said, it’s a roller coaster of emotions, not just feeling one thing; you feel everything. It’s really fun to have shows that take you on that journey. It’ll be crazy.

To keep up with Brynn, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music. Listen to Out of the Blue today.

Photo Credit: Sophia Bella Cucci