She’s a writer, musician, performer and UT student.
Brooke Michelle, who is currently working on her debut album, sat down with Good Morning Longhorns Wednesday to talk about her first single “18.” She talked about what the process was like, what inspired the emotional lyrics and how she got involved with student-run record label UTalent.
GMLH: Where do you think you get a lot of (the) inspiration that has influenced the music you wrote for your newest album?
BM: Whenever I’m writing, I focus on storytelling, and I try to tell stories that are going to resonate with the most people and be the most relatable. So, I pull most of my inspiration from my own personal experiences, as well as looking at things that happened to my friends and writing about that. But my song that just came out, “18,” was released on Friday. That is a really personal song to me. It’s about a past relationship that I was in, and it’s about reflecting on a situation and realizing that, you know, some parts of it weren’t as glamorous as I made them out to be in my head. And I feel like when we’re young, we can really romanticize things. It’s a song of coming to terms with it and closure.
GMLH: What was the process of joining UTalent Records, and how do you think that’s helped you grow as an artist?
BM: UTalent has been amazing. I’ve known about it for a while, and I’m so glad that I finally tried out this year. UTalent is a student-run record label on campus, for anyone that hasn’t heard of it before. They take three artists a year, so I was really, really lucky to be signed on. I went through an audition process in September. And when you get signed on, you get a team of people that help you. So I have a really great manager, Chloe. She helps me with everything I do. I have a marketing manager, Heidi. I have a bookings chair, and I have a finance chair. It’s really great because as an independent artist, it’s hard to kind of manage everything, so having a team that works on the logistics is great because then I can work on the creative and the songwriting, which is my favorite part. It’s the fun part.
GMLH: Out of all the venues that you’ve had a chance to perform in, from the Grammy Museum all the way to performing at the Houston Dynamos, what venue do you think has made you feel the most sense of pride for yourself?
BM: Growing up, I sang the National Anthem a lot in my neighborhood at different baseball games and little leagues, and that’s always been one of my favorite things to do. I have gotten to sing for UT games, which I think is probably just such a full-circle moment for me. I got to sing at the Texas versus A&M volleyball game in the fall, and that was great because I have a big family of Aggies. So even though we lost that game, it was great to sing at. So I was just happy to sing at UT; it was awesome.
GMLH: What are your plans for after graduation? Are you going to continue with music?
BM: Yes, I definitely want to continue with music. I think I’m always going to be pursuing it no matter where I am or what I’m doing. If I could make a career out of the songs I write, that is the goal. But I want to work in the entertainment industry regardless. So maybe like marketing or artist management. And I might be going to grad school here.
