HEY YOU! BRIVON
We had a chat with Alaskan-born R&B artist Brivon about her new release ‘And I’, and her experience as a queer artist in America.
The state of American politics is headline news every day, and you're now based right in the thick of it in the DMV. Being a queer artist, does this impact your creativity at all?
To my core, I am a very centered person. I’m not easily shaken. A lesson I learned from my father that I carry with me everyday is: “Always stay neutral. Never be too high or too low, stay right in the middle so when life happens you won't be uncontrollable.” I do pretty well at blocking out the noise but I’m not blind to it. My emotions are reflections of my environment but I make sure I express them in effective, digestible ways via music.
You've had some pretty enormous media experiences already (Ellen, TNT) - what was it like having these opportunities as a young artist?
I never took it for granted. It was great exposure to the media and the industry as a newly young adult. The glitz, glamour, and fastness of it all was an eye opener. Was I ready for it at the time? Absolutely not, but I knew I would be in the future.
If you could go back and speak to your younger self, what would you tell a five-year-old Brivon?
“It’s going to get ugly before it gets beautiful. You're going to go through a lot of things but you’re always going to come out better. You’re a star.”
What's next for Brivon?
Visuals visuals visuals. More music and more performances. I want to see how far I can go so I’m putting myself out there like never before.
Hi Brivon, how are you feeling now that 'And I' is OUT IN the world?
From the time I wrote this to release day, this has been such a fun beginning to the journey I’m on now. Since my 2 year hiatus, I’ve grown a lot yet lost a lot of confidence in myself creatively so this is a celebration to relearning and re-loving in ways I would've never expected.
Tell us a bit about what it was like growing up in Alaska, and how this influenced your songwriting?
Coming from such a secluded yet diverse place like Alaska, you have to find your own way. You either grew there or you flew there. In my case, my grandmother moved her family to Alaska to start a new life and with that, cultures got left behind. That’s the beginning of my story. I was a blank canvas. I was susceptible to everything but luckily that made me want to learn about everything. My lack of history, culture and identity in my upbringing caused me to be curious and adventurous. This all translates to my artistic perspective. I don’t believe in being boxed in or labeled. Art imitates life and life is ever changing so that is my approach to music. I make music that reflects my most current and purest form of life.
