Social media is a huge part of the daily lives of billions of people worldwide, and has served as a blessing and a curse for many. It has helped us keep in contact during times when face-to-face interactions haven’t been possible, allowed us to meet new people from all corners of this planet, and provided us with comic relief when we’ve needed it the most. (If you’ve spent hours aimlessly scrolling through your For You Page on TikTok, you know exactly what I mean.) Social media has also brought on an immense amount of pressure, especially for fellow Gen Z-ers and millennials, that can be very difficult to shoo away. There’s the ever-present pressure to accumulate a certain amount of followers or likes on posts. There’s the pressure to go viral, and have your next big and brilliant idea see even higher numbers. There’s the pressure to look and act a certain way, and maintain said image on social media. Sometimes the internet feels like it’s truly “make or break,” and you can’t help but ask yourself when you’ll be able to be yourself for once… well, can I? Can I just be real?
Brynn Elliott has found herself asking that exact question for several years, and now she’s ready to lead you to an answer.
Like almost every artist over the past year, Brynn Elliott has taken plenty of time to observe and reflect upon the way the world around her has been moving. While there may not have been much action (or excitement for that matter) taking place on the streets around her, the LA-based artist has seen plenty of it unfold on the Internet. Earlier this year, Brynn decided to release “Tell Me I’m Pretty,” a song inspired by an incident at school where a group of male soccer players started rating freshmen based on their looks. As she recalled the infuriating situation, she decided to turn it into a call for change. Brynn hoped the song would help others develop a more expansive idea of beauty. Rather than fixating on one’s outer appearance, she felt like it was time for the focus to be shifted towards personalities and everything else inside of someone.
“Beauty I think has become such a narrow thing in our culture,” Brynn says. “I think it’s equated with physical appearance in a very particular standard that is totally constructed! I think I’m kind of broadening this idea of beauty. Beauty is being alive and living your life to the fullest, and your approach to life.”
“Tell Me I’m Pretty” was met with a very warm response from her fans online, and even climbed up to #22 at Hot AC radio. It served as a much needed reminder for many that beauty does not need to equate to physical beauty, especially since there’s way more to someone than just their looks. Brynn has felt honored that so many young women have resonated with this message, and decided to keep building upon it throughout the year. Her new EP Can I Be Real? is the end result.
“That title (Can I Be Real?) means so much to me,” Brynn says. “I’m kind of a textbook people pleaser, and sometimes when you’re a people pleaser, you don’t let your true self show… because you want yourself (or what you want yourself to be) to anyone else or the people you’re around, what you think they want it to be.”
As Brynn came to notice this within herself, she also started realizing just how easily social media can contribute to such thoughts and behaviors. She notes, “I think the internet has kinda exacerbated this sort of feeling of needing to perform and be on and (obviously) show our best selves, or only one side of ourselves. Social media can’t capture it all, and that’s okay. I think that’s kind of the conversation we need to have, which is I’m a whole human being. The whole breath of my existence is not going to be captured in a photo or a TikTok.”
Even the push to be authentic and embracing imperfections on social media can feel like a giant contradiction at times. Someone is always bound to use numbers to define another person’s worth, and someone is bound to be reduced to a number as well. “I think there’s sort of this push to show yourself without makeup, and I think there’s some beauty in that for sure,” Brynn says. “I think if that’s authentic to someone as an individual then that’s good. But even that can feel like a performative thing. For me, it’s like, do what you want to do on social media. Be who you wanna be, but just know that you’re a real human. You don’t have to live up to this pressure, you can just be fully you in your lives.”
Escaping that pressure can be a struggle in itself. It can be incredibly difficult to not check up on metrics or tend to a constant influx of messages. Going offline and staying offline can be one of the greatest challenges of all, especially when your livelihood depends on it. “So much of my job and my life as an artist is to be online… especially during a pandemic,” Brynn says. “I will say that it’s been really tough to not be on it.”
Brynn admits that not being around others physically has made the temptation to break a cyber cleanse even more difficult. “If I’m alone (and I live alone in my apartment) it’s so hard to just not constantly go there,” she chuckles. But now that her and her friends are fully vaccinated, she’s been spending quality time with those she cares for the most. “That really helps me kinda refresh and recharge,” she says.
Being able to finally spend time with friends again has also reminded Brynn just how important it is to surround herself with people who know the real her, and who will support her all the way. This unconditional love has also helped Brynn embrace her so-called “quirky and fun” sides more than ever. She says, “I think that’s one of the biggest struggles, when you are surrounded by people who maybe want you to be different, or who don’t really love you for you. I think the biggest thing is being in a community where I know I’m safe to be me.”
But there’s no place like being in the writing zone for Brynn. As she wrote the title track for her new EP, she thought about just how much she wanted others to feel free to be themselves 24/7. She spills, “I love philosophy, and I love reading philosophy. I was reading Søren Kierkegaard, and he says ‘the most common form of despair is not being who you really are.’ When I started writing ‘Can I Be Real?’, I knew I wanted it to be this huge release of a song. In the bridge, you have this sort of release, this climax of a moment where I say I’m not holding back. It’s sort of my journey as a people pleaser to kinda be free from that and hopefully encourage others to do the same if they struggle with that in their own lives.”
It was important for Brynn to work with others who understood the importance of creating a fun, yet equally as empowering project. She invited her good friend and fellow songwriter Michelle Buzz to join the journey, and the two bonded quickly over Brynn’s vision for the EP. “I had one session with her where we met, and I just had this kindred spirit vibe from her,” says Brynn. “We were very similar – both women in the music industry, same age. I think it was just so incredible to write this with someone where I could really be myself around her.”
The two also teamed up with production duo The Monarch, and zero time was wasted when figuring out Brynn’s sonic vision for the EP. She says, “It was really fun, just to go and say ‘hey, I want these pop songs to sorta have this more organic instrumentation… because I do love playing live with a band and my guitar and instruments. To work with producers who were so down for that was really really cool!”
Can I Be Real? captured an era of introspection for Brynn, and let’s face it… she said what needed to be said. She sang what needed to be sung. Hiding behind a smile on social media all the time is exhausting, but if we were to show the totally opposite emotion, someone would probably be quick to label us as “attention seekers” or “thirsty.” Although, you can also argue that someone could say that no matter what… so why not just show off the real you?
Creating this EP also made Brynn pinpoint exactly what she wants her future releases to touch on. She spills, “I think as I continue, as I’ve written more since the EP and I continue to look forward into the future, I love these themes of honesty, authenticity, beauty, and truth. I think those themes can kind of be expansive, and I kinda go into the EP even talking about love and writing love songs, or writing breakup songs or writing songs about the beauty of this life and what it means to live a real life. I think those are themes that I’m still writing about. So I think in some ways, it kind of solidifies who I know myself to be as an artist, and it’s kind of laying a foundation for me going forward.”
Surprisingly, Brynn wrote Can I Be Real? prior to the pandemic, but she feels like the timing of its arrival couldn’t be better. “In some ways, I’m really happy that I’m releasing it kind of as the world is beginning to heal,” she says. “I feel like being alone for a year in some ways (being isolated) I’m more of myself than I’ve ever been. I think I’ve just been myself and gotten to know myself, I haven’t had these normal outside forces. I definitely just want to encourage folks to kind of think about and process what they’ve been through this past year if they’ve felt isolated, and how they’ve kind of been themselves on their couches and in their sweatpants, which is where I’ve been. I hope this music speaks to that.”
Now, allow the music to speak for itself. Check out Can I Be Real? below, and be sure to celebrate this occasion with Brynn at her “The Can I Be Real Livestream Moment” on July 15 at 6PM PT. Brynn will be taking the stage at the Troubadour in LA to perform the EP for the very first time, and you’re invited to participate in the festivities from the comfort of your own home! Click here to grab tickets on Moment House.
Yes! Beauty within! Like how Alicia Keys went makeup less. Need more of this trend. =] Definitely relied on myself during the pandemic as well. Music is great!