Brynn Cartelli on her music journey, returning for home show

Winner of ‘The Voice’ to play free concert at MGM Springfield June 23

By Ashley P otter apotter@repub.com

For Longmeadow

native Brynn Cartelli, winning season 14 of The Voice in 2018 was just the beginning of a musical journey that has allowed her to share her music, perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, open for Kelly Clarkson, and now, has led her back to Springfield for a free concert of her own on June 23. “I was 15 when I won and I’m 20 now, and I think the ending of your teenage years are pivotal. The difference between 15 and 20 is really noticeable to a lot of people.” Cartelli recalled of her time on “The Voice,” where she was able to hone her skills under Clarkson’s coaching. “I’m a normal person that just happened to go through something like that. My life kind of blew up when I was 15, but it’s been a really amazing five years. I’ve always wanted to do this. I never thought that it would happen to me so young.”

Cartelli has continued to write and produce music since her time on the show. Her latest single, “Secondhand Smoke,” has garnered more than one million listens on Spotify. She wrote it during a life transition, and the message behind it is a personal one.

“It was a very specific situation and friendship that I was in and when you graduate high school, at this point a lot of people are figuring out where they’re going to next. You kind of are slowly starting to decide like, ‘okay, what patterns in my life, what habits, what behaviors, what friendships are going to come with me to the next one? Which ones do I want to keep up with? And which ones do I want to just have a restart with, and kind of think that over,” Cartelli said.

“’Secondhand Smoke’ was me kind of making up my mind about one specific situation that I was like, I cannot do that anymore, it’s brought me a lot of stress, pain, anxiety, and I don’t want to be this person going into New York when I move away from home. It’s really powerful and a lot of people have come up to me and related to it so many different ways,” she added.

Cartelli added that for her, the song ends halfway through with an important message.

“There’s a bridge that turns the song around in the last chorus, instead of ‘I have to let you go,’ the lyric is ‘I finally let you go’ and ‘I exhale the secondhand smoke.’ It kind of turns around into this looking at it from the other side,” she said. “You might always have this little fear and you might always remember that pain, but it doesn’t have to take over the way that you live your life and you can move past it.”

“For me, it was really therapeutic to write (Secondhand Smoke), because it made me believe in this future without that kind of hurt in my life, so I hope people feel that,” Cartelli added.

Aside from writing and singing “Secondhand Smoke,” Cartelli also directed the music video, which can be watched on YouTube.

“I’m really proud of it, it’s such an amazing thing to build visual worlds for songs. It’s so special,” Cartelli said. “And it’s something that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with, almost as much as I love song-writing itself. There’s so many little details and so many hidden messages in all of my videos that I love, whether they’re personal or whether fans pick up on it, it’s beautiful to take it to that type of medium.”

Cartelli’s directing journey began with “Gemini,” which was released on May 20, 2022, and she has directed each music video that she has released in the past year.

“I started off with ‘Gemini’ last year and then I directed a video for ‘Convertible in the Rain,’ which was shot in Westerly, Rhode Island, so we brought that local. And then ‘Secondhand Smoke’ was shot in LA,” Cartelli to people afterwards,” Cartelli said.

She fondly remembers her performance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City in 2021 as something “very special.” explained. “This is my third time directing, and each time I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s been so different, but it’s kind of like songwriting. Every time you write a new song, there’s a new tactic or a new strategy that you use that makes it unlike any song you’ve written before. And I’ve done the same thing with directing. I’ve just learned so much every time and I’m definitely still learning, but I love it.”

“I was singing a song that I usually don’t like to sing because I don’t think I sound very good singing it. And for some reason, something happened on Thanksgiving Day that year, where I felt amazing singing it. I looked back and I was like, ‘wow, I usually hate how that sounds, but right now I’m really happy,’” Cartelli said.

Cartelli added that the songs she’s written have all been part of her journey from Massachusetts to New York. “The first single of the album, ‘Gemini,’ to me sounded very Massachusetts. It’s about this time in my life where I’m getting ready to move out of Massachusetts with work, and all those moments in between where it’s like, where is home? Who are my people? Who am I? Who do I love? And all of those big feelings that were happening in that time.”

Aside from working on her music, Cartelli has been able to open for acts like Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, and One Republic, among others.

“Every touring experience has been so amazing to meet the fans and have time to talk

As for what’s next, there’s a lot of new music on its way “very soon,” Cartelli teased, and many songs will be played for the first time during her June 23 concert, to be held at MGM Springfield as part of the casino’s “Free Music Fridays” series. All are welcome.

“This show is one of the most exciting things I have in the next couple of months. I’m putting everything I have into it, I want it to be the best show I could ever do. I’m working really hard with my band to make it amazing.”

There’s still a bit of nerves about performing for an audience that has known her for her whole life, Cartelli added. “It makes me a little nervous to know that there’s people in the audience that have known me my whole life, but it’s also I think a really beautiful thing to be able to come back and be like, this is where I want to honor it first. There’s no place I’d rather be for that,” she said.

Cartelli encourages everyone to come out to the concert if they can.

“I hope they come, I hope they see these songs that are about our hometown and about leaving and going onto the next chapter of my life. I hope they come and see that. I think it’s going to be really special,” she said.

And one more thing, Cartelli added:

“And I hope they wear something blue.”