When it comes to music, I have a very clear idea of what I like and what I don’t like, and at the moment, I really like an artist named Caroline Brooks, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at her show at the House of Blues in Dallas while on tour with Stephan Kellogg. Caroline, originally from Tyler and a UT Alum, has been climbing the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts after her hit single “Parachute” was featured in Kate Hudson‘s movie A Little Bit of Heaven. Still unsigned, she has been creating a lot of buzz in the Dallas and L.A. circuit with the release of her new song “Tomorrow, Tonight”.
Watching her perform was a uniquely refreshing experience. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t familiar with her music, but I was absolutely blown away with her songs “Tomorrow, Tonight”, “Killer” and her ridiculous Tupac cover of “California Love“. I was not expecting the sweet little blonde from Tyler to kill Tupac’s song on the keyboard. After her incredible and surprising performance, I was really excited to speak with her. Check out this week’s The Beat exclusive:
First off that was an incredible performance. As far as your sound and writing process, how do you go about writing your songs?
I think I write best when I have a theme first like lyrics first and then build melody or mood around that.
A what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a singer?
I wanted to be a singer since I was seven, but I moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to kinda dip my toes into it and see if I really wanted to pursue it as a career. I worked with a producer that told me that I didn’t have thick enough skin, you know, and was just kinda like “Uhh everybody sounds like you” and you reach that first rejection, but then you talk to other people who have made it that go, “No keep going because you’re going to face it”, but it’s when you have your first, I guess, rejection or heartbreak, that you go “Do I wanna keep doing this and face rejection and criticism and just keep growing and pursuing?” That’s kinda when I decided to keep going after the interaction with that producer.
I’ve come across people comparing you to Sara Barellis. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah I love Sara Bareillis. I think I’m similar to her in that she is really good at being kind of a pop artist and a singer/songwriter and she writes pop songs that could be on mainstream media and she’s funny and she’s charismatic, so I definitely like that. I almost feel like mine might be a little more pop than her, more like a female OneRepublic because I love orchestral stuff and percussion.
Your Tupac cover absolutely blew me away. I was just like, “She did not just do that”. Is he one of your musical inspirations?
I’m kinda all over the place, you know, I’m more of a song person. If the song is really good then I’m down. Tupac is an amazing songwriter and it almost makes me depressed when you hear his stuff because there are very few rapper that are as good as him.
Moving to L.A. is different and many people get lost in the chaos there. How have you managed to maintain your sound?
I think L.A. is a great challenge. It definitely forces you to grow. Everybody is so cynical because there’s so many distractions and there’s so much good stuff going that you kinda have to find ways to keep people’s attention.
So, this is really lame and cliche, but where do you see yourself in five years?
I would love to have the same career path as Ryan Tedder in that I love writing. I wanna be on tour and have successful songs on the radio and write songs for other artist and cowrite because that helps you grow as an artist, but let’s see what happens.
Caroline Brooks is currently on tour with Stephen Kellogg and releasing her EP on iTunes soon so keep a look out and follow this genuinely talented singer on Twitter and YouTube. And be sure to check out her video below of my personal favorite “Tomorrow, Tonight”!
Dallas [Intuitive] 