CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 135: BRI CARTER ON FALLING APART IN OCTOBER

Interview by Brooke Gibbs.

In the LGBTQ community, "We fell in love in October" celebrates fall romance. But for those experiencing heartbreak in October, "We fell apart in October" is their anthem, offering solace when fall feels more like a season of discontent.

Bri Carter joins Futuremag Music from New York to share her heartbreak twist on Girl In Red.

FMM: Hello. Thank you so much for being here today.

Bri: Of course. Thanks for having me.

FMM: Anytime. We've been fans of your music for a while now, so it's great to actually have you here and have some time with you today.

Bri: Thank you. I'm so happy.

FMM: We're here because you've recently put out another great release. So firstly, congratulations.

Bri: Thank you.

FMM: How you feeling at the moment?

Bri: I'm feeling good. It's always exciting to put out new music, but it's also, like, nerve wracking because I always try to put out something new and try out new things. So, it's scary when people are hearing that. For this song, I produced it’s and so scary to have people hear that type of stuff. But no, it's exciting, though. But it also is scary at the same time, of course.

FMM: It looks like from your TikTok, people are commenting, they're enjoying it and they're liking this release. How are you finding people are reacting?

Bri: I think they're reacting good. I think they're relating to it because it's called We Fell Apart in October. The inspiration was from Girl in Red’s, We fell in love in October, and I wanted to put my own twist on it. I'm better at writing breakup songs than love songs. So I'm like, all right, let me put my own Bri Carter twist on it. But, yeah, I think people are relating to it because if they aren't in love in October, they have a song to listen to when they're sad in October.

FMM: Exactly, because it can go either way and I love that people have a song for how their October is going.

Bri: Exactly.

FMM: Was there a particular experience that inspired this release or was it more so just like, having that connection for people that may not necessarily be in love in October?

Bri: Yeah, it was more so the connection for people to have. When I write songs, I like to have music that other people can relate to in a sense that's not so specific to me all the time. So for this song in particular, it was was heavily inspired by Girl in Red’s We fell in love in October because I love that song and I love Girl in Red. I just thought, let me give the people a sad song for this fall.

FMM: Yes, I love that and I love your sound. So obviously, Girl in Red is someone that inspires you. Are there any other artists or albums that you draw influence from?

Bri: Yeah, I'm heavily inspired by Hyperpop, so Break Ins is a big inspiration, Blackbear and Chase Atlantic and even, like, Lauren Sanderson, The Kid Laroi. I feel like I take all their sounds and genres and mash it and make my own. I also like alternative. I grew up listening to Pierce the Veil and all the emo stuff, so I try to incorporate that as well into my songs.

FMM: Yeah, that's a very good mix to have. I’m also really enjoying the photoshoot you did for this release. It looks like it would have been a lot of fun behind the scenes. What are some of your favourite memories from that shoot?

Bri: It was really fun. So me and my girlfriend did it and we carved the pumpkins for it. The pumpkin is really heavy on your head. It hurt my neck because you have to get the pumpkin big enough that it sits on your head, but it's heavy and we had to carve it really thin, so it didn't literally break my neck. I wore two beanies underneath it so it wouldn't hurt top of my head. Then we got some fake blood. I had a baseball bat, I had a fake knife, and I just wanted, like, a spooky shoot because I've always wanted to do those pumpkin head shoots. And I'm like, what better way to do it than do it for a song? And I was like, this song is perfect for it. So, it was really fun. This was definitely my favourite photoshoot that I've done for a song ever. Yeah, it was really fun, though. But it was, like, awkward when people walked by and saw it happening. They're probably like, what the hell?

FMM: Yeah, it looks pretty sick and at least you could do it for the song because it fits perfectly.

Bri: Yeah, exactly.

FMM: I read that when you first started out making music, you had a sense of feeling like you didn't really belong. Do you feel like you found your place now that you've put out a few releases?

Bri: I do, and I also don't because I feel like I found what I'm meant to do in life and I feel like I fit in because I found my purpose. But, I feel like sometimes my sound doesn't fit into other things because it's such, like, a mixture of things. So, in that sense, I kind of feel like I don't belong because I'm not a certain genre. Some of my songs are more hip hop, some are more hyper-pop, some are more pop. So in that aspect, I still kind of feel like an outsider in that way, but I'm just doing what I like to do and I know that the people who like it will follow. I'm not going to change my sound to fit what is popular or whatever because I just want to make music that I like. But yeah, I still have that feeling of like, damn. But it's definitely better now that I do the music and stuff and I'm happy with how it's going.

FMM: Yeah, and that makes sense, but it's good to hear that you're feeling happy with it now and it's improving for you as well.

Bri: Yeah, exactly.

FMM: So for anyone that might be watching this interview and coming across you for the first time, tell us more about your music, who you are and how you would explain that to someone who may not know you.

Bri: Ooh, that's tough. So I guess I'm Bri if they didn't know that [laughs]. I'm from New York and I make music in my bedroom like all my songs are. I've never been to a real studio or anything, so I just make it from my little laptop and in my bedroom and do it that way and that's where I find the most inspiration because I just feel like if I'm in a studio, I'm going to judge myself. If I'm working with other people, I'm not going to be fully experimentative and oh, people are going to judge me, whatever. So I like to work alone. So my music is like a hyperpop mix, like I said before. I don't know, I’m bad at describing myself and giving facts about myself.

FMM: I think that sums it up pretty well. I love you haven't been to the studio because if you listen to your music, I don't think you'd be able to tell that it's all made in the bedroom. It sounds like that it would be studio quality, so kudos to you.

Bri: Shout out to my engineer, he does a good job at making it sound like it's from the studio.

FMM: Going back to this release, you mentioned that you produced it yourself, so can you maybe walk us through your process on how you produced this track?

Bri: So for this one, this beat was actually one of the first beats I've literally ever made. I was on my computer one day and I was going through my old files and stuff and then I heard this beat and I was like, oh, it's not even bad, it's pretty cool. So I started writing to it and then I made some tweaks to it so it was better. I had that guitar loop, I found that. So basically for when I produce, I do building blocks, so I'll find either a sample I like or a sound I like or in my head I'll be like, okay, this song I want to have heavy bass or I want it to be more like melodic and I'll kind of just build up from there. So for this song, I was on Splice one day, this was like six months ago or whatever, and I heard the guitar melody thing and then I just put it into Logic and I started building it and I'm really happy with how it came out. I think for one of my first beats I've ever done, it's pretty sick.

FMM: Yeah, that sounds great, thanks for sharing that.

Bri: Yeah, of course.

FMM: As an Australian audience who may not necessarily be able to come out and see you perform, how are some ways that we can support you in your music?

Bri: I always like when people message me saying, hey, I found your music. It's helped me through this, and I relate to it. That always means the most to me when I hear people tell me that my music is helping them, because I know when I was younger and I had artists that I looked up to and their music got me through, it's just, like, a nice feeling to be that person for somebody else. It's kind of like, wow, I just feel like I'm doing what I'm meant to do, and it's nice to be that support system for somebody when I had that when I was growing up. S,o that's the best thing for me and to listen to my music, too, and stream it and share it with your friends.

FMM: Yes, definitely. What do you have in store for the rest of the year? Do you have any shows coming up or more music in the works?

Bri: I don't think I have any shows. Nothing's planned, but yeah, I'm working on a lot of new music. I'm trying to work on an album to drop sometime next year. I don't know when yet, but I want to have, like, a fully self produced album, so I've been working on that, trying out different styles of music and experimenting and stuff. That's my next goal. I want to play some shows next year and take it step further than I did this year.

FMM: Sounds like you've got a fun rest of the year in store.

Bri: Yeah, should be.

FMM: Did you have any other comments that you want to add about yourself or maybe this particular release?

Bri: Just keep listening to it. I'm happy with how it came out, and I can't wait for everyone to hear the other stuff I have been working on.