Chandler Honors His True Identity in Debut EP ‘Brent’

Earlier this month, singer-songwriter Chandler released his debut EP, Brent, a self-titled piece of art that combines intimate, acoustic-based arrangements with warm and familiar melodies, which enhances the generic pop formula and allowing a glorious space for the passionate vocals.

Representing the return to an honest identity previously shoved aside and artificially altered by the standards of the music industry and all things “Hollywood,” Brent highlights beautiful insecurities from skin imperfections to sexuality. Chandler liberates any inadequacies and celebrates everything that was once deemed unacceptable.

Hailing from Alabama, Chandler is always looking for ways to expand his artistry and push himself creatively, and he is set to release three more EPs by the end of the year. The final EP will be paired with a tasting menu, creating an intimate experience that transcends listeners deep into the throws of his mind.

The artist took some time to answer some questions for OFM.

As your debut EP, how excited are you to release Brent out into the world?

I’m fucking stoked for it (laughs). I moved to LA about five years ago, and it’s very, very hard to find a good, consistent team when you’re just starting out. So, it took a long time to build that team and get quality music, not only written and produced but worth releasing. It’s not just sprinkling a sound here and there. This is a body of work. Small though it is, it’s still a body of work. I’m so excited that it’s finally out, and I’m excited that it’s the first little ball of snow for what hopefully is the snowball of the rest of this year in terms of new music coming out and all the content behind it.

Can you talk a bit more about the album’s concept inspiration?

When I first got here, a lot of what I was doing was not only self-discovery, but it was forced changes. I was discovering myself and experimenting with different looks. Like, who I was as a person versus who I was trying to be back in Alabama. A lot of that growth was necessary, but some of it was very forced upon me. I already had music out when I moved to LA, and I was essentially told, “This isn’t quality enough music. Delete everything, rebrand, look different, be different, go by a different name,” and I did that. I was making music I was told people wanted to hear instead of music that I thought was my art.

I finally got to a point where I was like, “This isn’t working either.” I wasn’t getting streams off the stuff that everyone said I had to make. No one paid any more attention to me than the next person who had dyed their hair blonde. I was like, “Fuck it. I’m going to go back to being me.” So, this EP is very much like a “fuck it.” I’m going to go back to my roots to my middle name. Everybody back in Alabama knows me as Brent, and my mom even calls me Brent. In that rebranding process, I was like, “I guess I’ll go by my first name.” Now, this is me saying, I’m taking all of it back.

All the stuff I changed, not only am I taking it back, but I’m going to put it in a spotlight. The cover art is of all these close-up shots of different parts of my body or a personality that I have been insecure about at one time or another. This is going to be a highlighting of those things, and that storyline is going to play out over the next several weeks as I dive into the content of each of the songs on the EP. Just elaborating on what’s related to that song in terms of what I was insecure about.

Do you think we will ever get away from the artificially altered standards of the music industry and Hollywood?

I would like to say that I hope so, but we live in a world where media survives off of clicks. They’re going to give you the most dramatic, sad story because it gets more clicks. On top of that, they want the drama. I look at it a lot like The Hunger Games when they have any sort of media on television. Everyone’s big, bold, outlandish, and crazy because it puts on a show.

People do want a show, but I think our generation is at least becoming more aware of the fact that that isn’t necessarily good for us to watch 24/7. It takes an effect on your mental toll. I would hope that over the next decade, we shy away from that and start embracing more of what it means to be human and whatever that embodies.

How has Brent been received by listeners so far?

We recently got radio play in the Grand Cayman Islands, which I thought was random, but really freaking cool. I believe we also have some radio play coming up in the U.K. soon, so I feel like people are loving it. Obviously, people latch onto different songs for different reasons. “In the Movies” seems to be the one that everyone’s really into, which is great. I love that song. I feel like it’s a very truthful storyline of what I was experiencing at the time.

However, I will say, my family doesn’t love “Family Drama.” I sort of put a bunch of them on blast in that song, so they weren’t thrilled about some of the lyrics. I try to be very honest with my songwriting, and I leaned into this quote that I heard, I don’t know who said it, but, “the more specific, the more artistic.” I stopped writing things that I thought people wanted to hear, and I started telling more truthful stories using the names of the people that it’s about.

Molly is a real person that I really loved for 10 years, and she will never not be a part of my life. She was part of my development as a kid, and I won’t ever fully let her go. Even in “Family Drama,” I’m talking about my mawmaw, my grandmother Jean. I just put a bunch of people on blast, so I feel like that song wasn’t as well-received by my family. I don’t know why I thought it would be, but they love all the other ones.

At least they love the others! Now, Brent is the first of three original EPs set to release before the end of the year. What can you tell us about the next two?

Brent is very much in a pop realm, while the next two are a little less pop and a little more experimental in terms of the sounds and the instrumentation that I’m using. Although, they’re still very much story based. I want to tell a story in my writing instead of some frivolous surface level thing, but the next two go together. The next one is Moments Asleep, then the other one is Moments Awake. The whole concept behind those two are about self-examination and self-reflection but realizing what it means to be awake, human, and conscious. That’s all I’ll say for now.

How would you describe your musical aesthetic and style?

I really lean into the songwriter realm. I want to hear a story when I listen to music. I want to be moved; I want to feel something, and I hope that I’m creating that same sort of inspiration for other people when they hear it. I want them to be inspired to cry, dream, or dance. In terms of my own style, I don’t think that I’m cool by any means, but I’m trying to give you something new and something that not everyone is creating. I’m just leaning into my own artistry in that, but I don’t really have a descriptive term of my style.

You like to create music that we can all relate to.

Yes, I do. Going back to that quote, I’ve found that if I try to make music that I think you’ll relate to, it’s too surface-level. If I go specific, and I tell you about mawmaw Jean or Molly, you will insert your own mawmaw Jean or your own Molly into that storyline because we all have a grandmother; we all have a lover; we all have whatever this emotional response is to this situation. We can apply it in our own way. I’m writing music that people are relating to, but I think it’s because I’m giving you something that’s real and not surface-level.

Have you always had a passion for singing and songwriting?

I would say it really hit me when I was 16. It was a way for me to sort of escape some of the things that I was dealing with mentally. I feel like that’s how anyone gets into any art. Not necessarily trauma all the time, but anything that you’re trying to express but you don’t feel comfortable doing so in general terminology. I could put it in a notebook and then sit down at a piano, and I could release these feelings, thoughts, and emotions. At 16, it really started developing in me as a way of communicating.

Then when I went to college, which I ended up dropping out of to do music, but while I was there, there was this beautiful piano room in this abandoned building at the University of Alabama, and no one ever used it. It was this gorgeous grand piano in this all-white room with light coming in from all these windows, but I would end classes and go to this piano room, where I would sit down and write. That was when it hit me; this felt more meaningful than anything I was learning in those classrooms.

So, if I was going to take this leap and do this; it was, like, a now-or-never thing. It was songwriting in that room at the University of Alabama at this abandoned piano where I decided to make this a full-time situation and uprooted my life to come across the country. Since then, it’s a daily practice, therapy, and joy. I’ve really embraced it as a full-time commitment, and I also stopped chasing the fame of it. I’m doing it for joy, and that’s what actually changed the trajectory of me as an artist.

What are some future goals you would like to achieve as a musical artist?

Again, I’m sort of just doing this for joy, and I do hope grand things come from it. I love performing. Give me the biggest stage in the world, I’ll give you a great fucking show. I want that, but I also want to just inspire people. I want people to listen to the music and be inspired to make their own music, create art, dance, or tell the person that they love that they love them.

I also have a passion for food, and I’m currently working on combining these two worlds of food and music, which you’ll see by the end of the year on the next two EPs. I think that’s a cool goal. I want those worlds to come together—taste, smell, sound, all of it. I’m going to give you the whole experience.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?

Over quarantine, I feel like a lot of people went through a lot of self-discovery. One night, I had some friends over, and let’s just say we had a group experience. There was a lot of EDM-style music playing, which I never enjoyed or understood, but in this group experience, I learned to love this EDM house/dance. It felt good. It released the serotonin that I had never felt before, and since then, I’ve been wanting to create that same feeling that I don’t think you can achieve through indie/pop/rock singer-songwriter.

I was fortunate enough to be connected with this group Tøkyo Smøke, who I think are incredible. They’re very much in the vein of Rüfüs Du Sol. We put out a single together not too long ago called “Lie to Me,” and then we decided to create another EP. So, at the top of next month, there will be another EP coming out from Tøkyo Smøke, but I’m the singer-songwriter on each of those tracks. I believe we’re at seven tracks right now, but I’m really stoked to have this other project and be a part of this group that creates a totally different style of music. It allows me to write more creatively and delve into a side of my brain that I don’t get to do on a singer-songwriter level.

Stay up-to-date and connect with Chandler by following him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok @whatsupchandler, or visit his official website, whatsupchandler.me. Brent is now available on Spotify and all other digital streaming platforms.

Photos courtesy of Sasha Neboga