Brianna Nelson’s voice is easy flowing, yet commands your attention the moment it hits your ears. She kicked off her career at the age of fifteen with The Voice blind auditions and since then has built a solid following through many performances across the US.

 

We had a chance to chat with Brianna about her experience with The Voice, her musical inspiration and what’s in store for the talented singer-songwriter.

 

Good afternoon, it’s great to be chatting with you. Take a moment to tell us a bit about yourself and what got you into creating music.

 

Ok! Well, I started singing when I was 10 in school musicals, but quickly started writing songs when I learned guitar at age 13. I fell in love with songwriting and have been writing songs and performing them ever since!

 

I read on your site that you refer to your sound as “Boho Pop.” How did that term come about and how would you describe it?

 

Yes, I’ve always struggled to fit perfectly into a genre such as pop, singer-songwriter, and folk. My music is a mix of all of those and my persona style is very bohemian and earthy (much like Free People; my all time favorite clothing brand!). So, I started calling my genre “Boho Pop” as it was more fitting for my music and made for a cool genre name! Also, being able to dive into new production around my vision of a ‘boho pop’ sound has been awesome! Pulling influence from artists like Maggie Rogers, Brandi Carlile, Vance Joy, Matt Corby etc.

 

 

You auditioned for Season 6 of The Voice – congrats! Talk a bit about that, how it came to be and what you learned from it.

 

Yes! It was a crazy experience for a 15 year old to have! My dad and I went to the Javits Center in New York and waited in line for hours to audition at the open call. After that day, I was invited back a couple more times making it a total of three auditions before the Blind Auditions. We spent over a month out in LA at various hotels preparing for the Blind Auditions. I got vocal lessons, rehearsed with The Voice band, had interviews etc. You got to know a lot of the other contestants which was great too. It was like going to camp but everyone is insanely talented and you just jam all the time, haha. So in the end, there’s a week of the filmed Blind auditions and they pick 25 people to go everyday. I was slotted to go on the fourth day (out of five) and it turned out that on the third day of auditions the teams filled up and the ones who had yet to go we all were sent home. I was very disappointed, but the whole experience was amazing and I learned a lot and I wouldn’t do it any differently!

 

 

You’ve performed at many venues, which was your favorite and why? What is a venue on your bucket list to perform at?

 

Yes, I love, love performing out. My favorite venue is The Listening Room down in Nashville. I got to be a part of the ‘Song Suffragettes’ Monday Showcase. This show is an all female bill every week, it was put together to support and give more exposure to female artists in the industry. A lot of great artists have performed there and I felt really lucky to have played there and been apart of such a great show.

 

My bucket list venue is The Mann in Philly. I know it’s a big one, haha, but I love that venue. It has a great atmosphere and I’ve had really great memories there.

 

Do you have any new projects in the works? What’s next for you?

 

I am working on an EP! Going back to the Boho Pop questions before, I have been exploring production for my songs and it has been really fun! I’m excited to finish and release them.

 

 

How would you explain your music in three words?

 

Honest, Soulful, Organic

 

Which artists over your career so far have had the most influence on you as an artist and your sound overall?

 

Amos Lee, Maggie Rogers, Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile, Vance Joy, JP Cooper, Matt Corby, Tori Kelly

 

Who are your top 3 favorite musicians right now?

 

Amos Lee, Maggie Rogers, LEON

 

Anything else that you’d want to let the readers know?

 

Aside from music I love plants haha, especially succulents (haven’t mastered the “keeping them alive for long” thing but I’m learning!) and I make Macrame!

 

(Macrame is the art of knotting cord or string in patterns to make decorative articles).