Country is just full of new faces and Brieanna James is ready for her turn in the spotlight! This fresh faced 18-year-old songbird just released her debut single, “Hot,” co-written with Kelsea Ballerini. The single will take you back to sticky hot Summer days where you wish for a sprinkler to run through and a nice cold sweet tea…oh yeah and a super hot guy to hand you that sweet tea! Brieanna has a fun country-pop sound and we can’t wait to hear more from her soon! She has been hard at work on her upcoming EP.
We had the chance to talk to Brieanna about who she would fangirl over, what it was like to write with Kelsea, her dream tour lineup and more! Read our interview and get to know Brieanna James below. Pickup a copy of “Hot” on iTunes now!
Brieanna James: To be honest, I don’t know if I have a certain style of songwriting. I write every genre of music and I try to create new sounds and melodies so I can change things up a bit. I usually stick to the idea of love when I write because it’s my favorite thing to write about, but I just love writing in general. I have two sides to me. The sassy, flirty, light hearted side and the deep and serious “I’m in love” or “I got my heartbroken” side. When I’m extremely emotionally attached to a song, it usually comes out as a more serious or “deep” song.
Kelsea Ballerini is awesome! I’m a huge fan! I love her music. Honestly, it was such a blessing that I scored a cowrite with her. You can really learn so much from artist you respect and admire.
What artist do you look up to/whose footsteps would you like to follow?
Taylor Swift. I love her and plus if I had to choose any artist footsteps I’d like to follow it would definitely be her.
Okay, so there I was enjoying a nice meal at a restaurant called BIRDS in Los Angeles with my parents and this guy comes walking down the hall behind where I was seated. I turned and looked and I guess my brain was short-circuiting because I stared at the beautiful 6′ 4″ God made hottie for a full 6 seconds before I realized that it was my ULTIMATE celebrity crush… NICK BATEMAN. By the time I realized it was him he was walking right directly behind me and my immediate and natural reaction was to make this really loud gasping noise. Everyone in the restaurant heard it, including him! My parents, who were bickering at the time, stopped and said “What?!” And I said… “That’s Nick Bateman!” My mom was probably as excited as me. Long story short, I finally walked up to him, talked to him, and got a picture with him. (HE LIKED MY INSTAGRAM PICTURE GUYS!) Oh and btw, I’m 18, but the guy is like 29 years old. So yeah I kinda always knew it was never happening for us. However, it never really hit me till I met him and I realized he probably looked at me like I was a child. The height difference didn’t help either. So basically, my dreams were met and crushed all in one day.
If you could only take 1 album with you on a road trip, what would you bring?
I’d probably pick a Taylor swift album, like her very first album, or maybe “Fearless.” It’s just… Who doesn’t like Taylor Swift?!
Do you have any pre-concert rituals?
Just a lot of practice. I run over my lyrics again and again even though I know I have them down. I just wanna make sure I don’t mess up, ya know? So those two things, and I pray.
How would you describe a Brieanna James concert in 3 words?
Well, I can’t completely answer this because I haven’t performed a full blown Brieanna James concert like I want to yet. However, when I do, I can tell you that there will probably be lots of lights, and fire, and ashes, and rain, and pyrotechnics! I wanna be able to entertain people and put on a real show! I want people to leave with memories that will never leave them!
There way too many! The dream would be Sam Hunt and Taylor Swift. I would be thrilled to tour with Kelsea Ballerina, Brett Eldredge, I’m a big fan of Dan + Shay also!
What can fans look forward to from you in 2017?
Fans can look forward to new music, my first EP, more shows and some other exciting stuff I have in the works.
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