Today I want to introduce you to Bri LoBue! I found Bri on twitter, listened to her music, and I was hooked! I hope through reading the interview and listening to some of her music that you will do the same! Click 'Read More' to see the whole interview with Bri! NN: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Bri LoBue? Where are you from? How old are you? So on. Bri: I’m 24 years old from a small town called Old Bridge, in New Jersey! I’ve been singing for as long as my mouth could make noise, and I started teaching myself guitar about 3 years ago! When I’m not attempting to be a rock star, I teach mommy-and-me music classes, and I sing with my band (www.theninesnj.com) on the weekends! NN: How did you find an interest in music? When did that passion begin and how did you decide you wanted to get into the music industry? Bri: Honestly, I’ve had an interest in music for as long as I can remember. My parents are both pretty musical… My Mom played the flute for years, and my dad played the accordion (lol) ,guitar, drums, and as of recently- a little cajon! My dad also sings but is very modest about it, and my mom can’t sing a lick, but she’ll HAPPILY belt it out loud and proud! I have always had a love of music… I remember even at a very young age being able to pick up on lyrics very quickly, and I was always the kid who knew every word to every song. I was always involved in theater, and choir, etc. but I think it was in 8th grade that I knew I had to do this for the rest of my life. I was in the school musical “Bye, Bye, Birdie”, and it was the first time I ever had a lead role, or a chance to truly sing in front of people. The feeling I got from being onstage was incomparable to any place else, and I knew I wanted to feel that way forever. I then went to college for music, dance, and theater, and had the absolute best experience imaginable. ‘Til this day, nothing makes me feel the way I do when I’m performing, and that’s how I know it’s right. NN: You are a singer/songwriter. What is one of your favorite song that you've written? What is the story behind how it got written and the meaning it has for you? Bri: There is a song that will always be very special to me, titled “Norine’s Song”. It’s only available on the physical versions of my EP as a Bonus Track, as well as on Sound Cloud. A dear family friend of ours lost her husband to cancer, and she had found comfort in the positivity of music. She asked if I would write a song for her with my “positive outlook” and make it from his perspective. (Prior to this, I had told her about Brett Eldredge’s “Go On Without Me”, so she wanted a song with a similar feel made specifically for her.) So, I sat with her for a while asking if there were any particular phrases they used to say to each other, or simply things that reminded her of him, and took notes. She told me there was no rush, and to just do it whenever I could. The very next day, I picked up my guitar with no intention of writing the song then, and it just came to me. It was the quickest I had ever written a song, and it’s as if the lyrics were just coming from God and out of my mouth, because it happened that quickly and fluidly! I recorded the song, and left it under her tree a few weeks later for Christmas, and she says she will just sit and listen to it 15 times a day. I was truly so touched that it helped her so much, because that is the purpose of music, after all. I want my music to help people; whether it’s a feel-good song that makes you want to dance, or a song where you can temporarily put yourself in that person’s shoes and know what they felt in that moment—that is the goal. You can check out that song here. NN: You just released a new music video for your song "Bartender". Can you tell us a little bit about that? How did you decide on the concept that you wanted captured? Bri: Yes!! I’m really excited about this because “Bartender”, for me, is so much fun to perform. The music video, ironically, was completely unplanned… Which may explain why I’m in a jungle/field sort of situation rather than a bar haha… My friend Stan is an awesome photographer, and he has done multiple photo shoots with me for my music. (PoselskiBrothers.com if ya wanna check them out!) So he was coming in from NYC that day to take some updated pictures. It was the HOTTEST day of the summer, and honestly being outside and trying to take pictures was ROUGH. I was dabbing sweat off my face every 3 seconds and attempting to be glamorous… Wasn’t happening. Stan turned to me after about 30 minutes of taking pictures and said “I’m bored with picture taking… Wanna make a music video?” And that was that! I’m all about being spontaneous, and we just rolled with the punches all day long, and had a blast doing it! The video is on her Facebook page. You can find it here. NN: Love and Theft featured you as their cover artist! What was that like? What impact did it play on your music career as far as their fans noticing you and so on? Bri: That was AWESOME haha I was so excited!! I love their music, and I happened to see on their Facebook that they were choosing fan’s covers to feature on their page. So like I mentioned earlier, I’m pretty big on the whole spontaneity thing, and right before I was leaving my house to go out for the night, I decided to sit on my bathroom floor and cover “Angel Eyes”. I put it up on YouTube, left for the night, and didn’t think anything of it. A few days later, I noticed that the amount of views suddenly shot up—and it clicked. I rushed over to their Facebook page and saw that they chose me to feature, and was so surprised. It had about 500 likes, a ton of views, and so many comments. This was such a cool opportunity for me because as someone pursuing country music, what could be better than an endorsement from one of the biggest country duos of the time? Getting your music out there as an artist can be difficult, and nowadays, social media can skyrocket a career instantly. Pretty much any attention from social media helps! NN: Where do you hope your music career is in five years?
Bri: I would love to be secured into a label, with at least 2 full-length albums. Right now, I’m working as an independent artist with a wonderful PR Manager who helps get my name out there and book gigs. We do what we can, but ultimately, an artist needs a full team behind them to reach the next level. I want my songs regularly on Country Music Radio, and an award or two wouldn’t HURT ;) NN: What does 2016 have in store for you and your fans? Any fun details such as touring, new music, new videos, etc. that you can share? Bri: I am excited to say that I have been doing a TON of writing lately, including co-writes, and am looking to get my first full-length album in the works. The EP “Runaway” that I currently have on iTunes was released in 2013, and I was going for a totally raw, acoustic, ‘this is me’ sort of feel. There was absolutely no editing done to any of those tracks, so essentially it was just 4 live recordings of me in a home studio. I wanted that to be my introduction—as raw and real as possible. Now that I have so many more songs to choose from and a few years have passed, I think it’s time for the real deal. Feel free to keep up with me on my website as well as my band’s, and all our social media to see what I’m up to performance wise and what’s to come! You can follow Bri on social media on the links below! |