Get to know more about the talented Brooklyn Juliana in this exclusive interview.
When I think about Korean musicians that need even more recognition for their talents, the name Brooklyn Juliana comes to mind!
Currently hailing from Toronto, Canada, Brooklyn is a singer-songwriter with a fairy-tale love affair with music. As a teenager, he would occasionally skip class to sing and play the piano in his high school auditorium. Having a golden voice that drew attention, it was only a matter of time before he gained international fanfare. His passion for entertainment captured the attention of fans online, which led to his performing around the world throughout 2018 and 2019. In particular, Brooklyn did all of this BEFORE his official debut. Pretty cool, right?
Brooklyn debuted on August 9, 2019, with the single “Young Love.” This was followed by his subsequent projects, Imagine, Imagine (English Version), and I’m Gonna Love You. The following year, Brooklyn kicked off his first tour, I’M GONNA LOVE YOU TOUR, in the summer of 2022, weaving his way through the U.S. and Europe. Days before the final show, a fan’s TikTok video of him went instantly viral, flooding him with hundreds of thousands of new fans, followers, and comments online.
Fast forward to today, Brooklyn Juliana is gearing up to release the music video for his latest single, “Thinking About You.” The deeply personal and introspective alt-pop song highlights the dawn of a new era for Brooklyn and one we are extremely excited for.
I had the privilege of getting to sit down with Brooklyn Juliana to talk about his latest release, his creative process, what’s next, and more.
Hello! Thank you for taking the time to speak to Hellokpop. Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Brooklyn: Hi guys, I'm Brooklyn Juliana, and I've just released my single, "Thinking About You." The music video just came out, and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever done. I'm so happy. Congratulations on your latest single, “Thinking about you!” What kind of impact do you hope the song has on listeners?
Brooklyn: Well, the character that's singing — the voice there — he’s quite flawed. The lyric goes, “I'm thinking ‘bout you; Do I tell you, maybe not yet; Let you know when I'm dead.” And everybody experiences this. I wanted to write a song where we acknowledge that that is a flaw, no matter how adamant we are about that stance. And when my character in the music video gets over that flaw, that's his arc. And then happiness happens. So that's the message I hope people take away from it — that you should be honest with your feelings.
How would you introduce someone to “Thinking About You” in one word or phrase?
Brooklyn: For me right now, the word that comes to mind is “joy.” It brings me a lot of joy to see the music video. It's my art in its purest form. And it's a romantic song, of course, because I'm a romantic guy.
“Thinking About You” does a great job of articulating a budding love story that is about to unravel. Could you talk us through the process of writing it?
Brooklyn: The song is inspired by real experiences. We've all been there — the summer comes around, and you suddenly find yourself hanging out with the girl you're thinking about. And you don't know how this happens, but it does. You talk to your friends, and they say, “Oh, you should tell her.” And I'm like, “Yeah, maybe not yet.” I think everybody kind of wants a fairy tale ending at the end of the summer, so that's something I thought would make people feel joy and happiness. Those are recurring themes in the song — getting over your fears is going to make you feel good.
Your music video for “Thinking About You” is - WOW. That’s the only way to describe it. Can you talk us through it?
Brooklyn: The video is absolutely stunning. I had the greatest cast and crew on the planet work with me on this. I also directed it. This year I spent a little bit of time studying 35mm film, all the ins and outs of that, and how to really capture an era. The whole video kind of looks and feels like something that was filmed in the 2000s, right? And to me, that felt quite timeless, like a lot of movies I watched growing up around that time.
[music video]
What makes this song different from your previous releases?
Brooklyn: Other than the fact that it's in English, it’s a little more introspective. I'm sharing some of my personal flaws. I've described myself as a chronic over-thinker, and that's really present in the lyrics here. I don't believe in trying to convince people that you're absolutely perfect.
“Imagine” remains such an important song in your catalog – what can you tell us about it?
Brooklyn: I love that song. It's dark. It's campy. The dance is so cool. It's a really fun song to perform live. I think it's a fan favorite. I basically cosplayed as Sabrina Morningstar in the video. It’s something I had wanted to do because I was obsessed with the show “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” at the time. I'm really fortunate that this whole time I've been able to get out all my creative ideas and put them out in the world, and people seem to like it.
What’s an average day like for you?
Brooklyn: I wake up, and the first thing I do - I keep my iPad on me all the time - I get up to date with the world, write a couple of emails, and do business. By lunchtime, I've made my way into the studio, and I start some writing. I actually like to practice my musicianship a lot; just try to improve and connect a little bit better. I get the technical stuff out of the way so the creative can take over. And then I'm writing, I'm recording. When I'm touring, it's a lot of traveling. So that's pretty typical for me. When you're in L.A., getting anywhere takes about an hour or two at least. Lately, I’ll pay a visit to the editing room where we cut the music video, and it's all colored. I talk and talk and talk and make lots of decisions. We cut in a shot that I like and take one out that we don't like. We really finesse the product for my audience. And I would say that's my day. It's sometimes quite busy.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about being a musician?
Brooklyn: I think a lot of people in my shoes go through this, but a misconception is that the music you make might be the music you listen to and that your motivations might be for vanity. A lot of us make music because we want to be professionals and we want to entertain people. And we hate the idea of messing ing that up or messing up someone's day because of ego. So the great misconception is that we might have an ego, but in reality, we're working really hard, and we're our own worst critics.
Read the full interview at Hellokpop.