Writer, Producer and singer/songwriter extraordinaire Brian Wight has shared his thoughts with us and discusses his new track
Colorado native Brian Wight has previously been the brains and artistic production behind some of the best new electro-pop and rock tracks of the last few years.
However, he has stepped out of the velvet curtain and taken centre stage recently in his new single ‘Obscurity!!!’.
His new unreleased album ‘Parable’ will be another unparalleled view into his musical mastery.
Being a multi-instrumentalist, Brian is able to effortlessly craft his tracks with the sort of finesse we have become accustomed to.
His new single ‘Obscurity!!!’ is a union of formed thought, combining elements of pop, rock and hip-hop.
Think Good Charlotte, Panic! At the Disco and Imagine Dragons.
That is Brians sound all wrapped up into one big package, with a bow on top.
The subtle acoustic guitar, poetic lyrics and constantly changing, tight drums are all attesting to that fact.
Brian was also gracious enough to take some time to discuss his new track, and to spill some tea on his highly anticipated album ‘Parable’
So put on some Brian Wight here, and have a read of our interview below.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
BRIAN: Today I am preparing my live show! Arranging and reimagining my songs and breaking down the parts to teach the musicians I’ll be hiring. I’ve never really played my music with a full band and production so I’m kind of getting it off the ground for a festival I’m playing!
HAPPY: From the Colorado mountains to the Nashville hustle—what made you pack up and move straight after high school? Was there a defining moment?
BRIAN: I wish there was a cinematic defining moment like in a cool biopic or coming-of-age movie. As boring as it may be, since the day I was born my life decisions have essentially been solely about getting to *do* music or just more.
Moving to Nashville after high school had no more strategy behind it other than hearing it was “music city”, and I could do music more there haha.
I will say I wanted to attend a music college there called “Belmont” and I would be able to do music AND be in college to meet kids my age who were as obsessed with it as me.
But even though I was accepted, my family couldn’t afford it, so part of the motivation for Nashville was just to be physically nearby that school to get what I could from just pretending I was a student.
Long story short – that little weird strategy was how I made all my friends and what made the whole thing work out in the end.
HAPPY: You’ve spent years in the background writing and producing for others—what flipped the switch for you to finally step into the spotlight?
BRIAN: That seems to be the question lately. Actually my own artistry was always the mode the switch was on, and the driving force.
However, not being in a University dorm/meal plan made it so I needed money to support myself from the beginning.
I had always produced/written my own music and played my own instruments, when folks were kind and generous enough to offer me money to do that for them, I was so broke I thought I would do that role temporarily.
But I’m a loyal guy and I had financial security the more I got integrated into that role so I got a little distracted haha.
If a switch did flip, it came from the encouragement of friends and artists I was working for to share my own music and tell my own story.
It was unbelievably kind and powerful for me. I am grateful for their belief and encouragement.
HAPPY: “Obscurity” feels like it’s holding a lot beneath the surface—what’s the core story behind the single, and why did you choose this track to introduce the world to your sound?
BRIAN: Love the way that’s put. I think I produced and mixed it to have that feeling of holding a lot beneath the surface.
Thanks for that. The story of “Obscurity” is actually a little bit of what I was just talking about, feeling like I had my own voice and story and feeling like it was forever unseen and heard for the sake of me amplifying others.
Now that I say that out loud….amplifying others is a very honourable and humble calling in life.
But anyway, I felt like I had betrayed my own self and even God who gave me a passion for making and performing music of my own expression for the sake of financial security and my inner spirit was fading into obscurity while I was vocationally helping others stand out.
You can probably sense my internal philosophical tug-of-war even now.
But I digress. It’s ALSO about where one person’s lowly existence (me) fits and matters on the overwhelming canvas of humanity by and large.
It’s very classic Disney protagonist singing their song about longing for purpose within their mundanity at the beginning of the movie.
But also lyrically wrestling with whether I’m morally opposed to that kind of self-serving thinking and if it’s okay to dream or if’s its all painfully unaware. Now THATS my kind of pop song haha.
HAPPY: How does the landscape you grew up in shape your sound? Do the mountains of Colorado still echo in your music even while living in Nashville?
BRIAN: I wish I could say that the dramatic rocky mountains where I grew up informed my sound, but that would be untrue, I think my sound has always been homeless and excitedly borrowing from the endless things that inspire me just in my own head and heart.
I don’t think I would sound any different if I grew up somewhere else. Maybe that’s on being a child of the internet.
HAPPY: Your upcoming album Parable is starting to make waves—how does it feel knowing that all these labels and publishers are paying attention to something so personal?
BRIAN: Man….that’s been so incredibly humbling and ultimately affirming.
I’m in constant high alert if I am deaf to my own music and it’s actually not nearly as good or unique as I think it is and I am actually being terribly cringe and everyone around me is thinking it but graciously never telling me.
But these unbiased strangers from the “industry” have been empirical evidence that it *might* actually be sick and perhaps even not cringey.
HAPPY: You’re a multi-instrumentalist, which is a rare breed these days. How do you approach the process of making a song when you can wear all these hats?
BRIAN: That’s a huge question with an impossible answer. I don’t have a process and I am probably annoyed about how much I don’t believe that something as spiritual and supernatural as art can be harnessed to the point of having a process.
That’s not me saying I’m right. That’s me rolling my eyes at my own self. There are great processes from people infinitely more successful than me.
But for me, being able to play all the instruments and produce, there’s no one way I do it. Songs just kind of happen.
Sometimes I’ll write a full song on a piano or guitar, other times I start with something weird in production and it sounds like a mirrored reflection of a feeling within me that I can’t articulate and I’ll chase that.
HAPPY: You’ve worked with big acts behind the scenes—what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from those collaborations that you’ve carried into your solo work?
BRIAN: Way too many to count, but I remember and pull from them constantly. One of them is that you have to market yourself, unfortunately. Doing music in 2024, you have to do some stuff you didn’t sign up for in order to do the stuff you did.
HAPPY: Your new music feels like a sharp departure from the mainstream Nashville sound. Do you see yourself fitting into the scene, or are you carving out something entirely your own?
BRIAN: Wow thanks for that! I proudly don’t see myself fitting into whatever the Nashville “scene” is, and I definitely hope I sound like something that is entirely my own.
I hope that didn’t sound like I was dissing the Nashville “scene”. Everyone around me is so insanely good.
I am constantly seeing singer/songwriters, folk artists, pop artists, producers, what have you, that are all so sick I can only hope to sound like them and fit into their scene.
And there’s also a glaring possibility that I literally just sound like Owl City and I don’t know it.
HAPPY: What makes you happy?
BRIAN: Creating, playing or even talking about music. Asking questions about life with friends or just doing bits. The ocean.
There’s also a pug on Tik Tok who screams instead of barks and it makes me happy without fail.
