College is perpetually stressful. Whether you're a freshman, a soon-to-be graduate or a forever student (with no foreseeable end in sight), college is hectic for every student regardless of your year, your major or your minor. While it might seem unimaginable for us to even fathom starting our own career while we're finishing our degree, singer and songwriter (and recent college graduate) Brynn Elliott released her debut EP and started building her career in the music industry while she was still taking college courses.
Brynn Elliott graduated from college on March 24, 2018. Beyond the innately noteworthy accolade of graduating from a university—she also graduated from Harvard University while simultaneously establishing and evolving her career in the music industry. On the same day she donned her cap and gown, Brynn released "Time Of Our Lives." Over the last four years at Harvard, she's spent her time tenaciously studying philosophy and used her coursework to fuel her songwriting inspiration.
Even before Brynn enrolled at Harvard, she was writing empowering songs in high school and immersing herself in her musical and academic passions. However, Brynn also found a way to weave the two together. After all, our academic endeavors and our professional ventures shouldn't be mutually exclusive, even if they seem so divergent on the surface level. Regardless, the new grad spoke with us about how she managed her college coursework, graduation and building her personal music brand—and we took notes, because this advice is evergreen and ever-important.
Her Campus: Do you think the challenges of completing a Harvard University degree while simultaneously building your music career helped prepare you for the music industry?
Brynn Elliott: Yeah, I think so. The music industry has a lot going on, and I was juggling a lot of things at once, and I definitely didn't get a lot of sleep. But I would send in papers before I was walking on stage or after walking off stage. I think the challenge itself of [navigating a career and a degree] definitely helped me even as I entered a room. It helped me organize all the things that I needed to do, and all those skills I’ve learned, I’ve been able to develop into a music career. I think just seeing so many amazing people who are involved in the music industry and the music department—that’s been a big part of my music career.
It's definitely prepared me for the fast-moving pace of the industry, and it's great.
HC: I know that you majored in philosophy at Harvard to help your songwriting. In what ways do you think your philosophy courses helped inspire your songs?
BE: In so many ways. I wrote this song called “Might Not Like Me” and I wrote it at this time in my life where I was in college and I was taking this class about women philosophers in the 1600s in England, which wasn’t really a thing. You know: women didn’t really do philosophy at that time. These particular women were like “ no, we have something to say,” so they would write under their own names, which was also typically not something that women did at that time because they'd write under male pseudonyms. So I was taking this class, I was learning about these women, and I was in this relationship where I felt like I was being silenced. I felt like I was being put down for my classes, my music and my drive toward school. It was kind of this weird time in my life, but I think that class, along with my music, really helped me get through it. The relationship ended, and I made this song. I feel like we were always in a very different place and that’s basically where this song comes from. I feel like pop music and philosophy are just so similar, in that you are dealing with ideas and concepts and how people deal with those areas. So, I feel like philosophy is perfect for songwriting because it’s about these universally human ideas and these concepts. I feel like I’m still constantly learning about what I started learning about in college and I think that’s helping me as I write.
HC: And I know your coursework in general, even beyond philosophy, has been a critical impact on your songwriting. Were there any other aspects that helped inspired your songs, throughout your Harvard journey?
BE: I mean, I think the biggest part of songwriting—and in all my songs—has been about my experience at college and the classes that I took. My song,“Time Of Our Lives,” is something I wrote on graduation day and the experience of graduating and the feelings of nostalgia. But I was also inspired by my classes, and writing about our experiences and how we deal with our emotions our whole lives. ["Time Of Our Lives"] is sort of this picture of my experience in school and what it would mean to graduate and to say goodbye to my friends and going through that whole process.
I feel like college really allowed me to experience things on a deeper, emotional level while also being challenged on an intellectual level. And I feel like that’s what makes this song deeper and more personal as well. I think I was inspired by the college experience overall.
HC: And having that deeper message in your songs also makes it more relatable and more palatable by a lot of different people. That way, they can take their own meaning for it.
BE: Definitely, and that’s what I really want to do with my music. I write these songs for what they mean for me, from my experiences—but I also write these songs for other people to latch onto and add their own meaning.
HC: Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians or songwriters who want to break into the industry but might not know where to get their songwriter inspiration?
BE: I would say just brainstorm and identify whatever interests you, whatever you think about constantly, use that in your songs. I was learning about the Gold Rush in high school, and I wrote a song called "Gold Rush" inspired by that. I would say, first of all, find a style and establish those things in your life that you think about constantly. Even if it’s something really small or something you learned in school or something you see on TV or something you hear in a podcast or an article that you read, those things can lead to your music. I’d say try new things and be open to the different things that this world can offer you and just listen. Then, I would say if you want to be a musician—and most musicians know that making music is a process—it’s about really just embracing the process and the experience, whether that’s facing rejection or just putting your head down and continuing to make music.
HC: I think that’s so ingenious that you wrote a song about the Gold Rush, after learning about it in high school. Were there any courses that might not have been in the philosophy curriculum that helped fuel your songwriting inspiration?
BE: Actually, I took a class on Einstein, and it was called The Einstein Revolution. It was a science class, and the professor of the class was very innovative and he was very positive about the creative journey. So, he encouraged students, whether we were learning about Einstein or the motivation behind Einstein’s career and his life, he encouraged us to be creative and to think about something fun for our final project. So I went up to him and was like, ‘I’m a musician. I write songs for pop music. Would it be okay if I wrote a new piece for the class?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, of course!’ So I started writing this piece based on, I guess, Einstein’s general thought process. I wrote songs about things that he wrote about in his journals and his diaries. So, I just wrote about Einstein’s thought and his [creative] journey and I was just inspired by the things that I was learning it school. That was a really fun class.
HC: I’m backtracking a bit because I know you spoke about your song “Might Not Like Me” a bit earlier. What are some messages you hope listeners learn from this empowering breakup song?
BE: For me, that song really is an anthem of empowerment for women, but also for anyone who feels like they’re in a relationship with another person who’s maybe dimming their light or maybe making them feel like they aren’t good enough, or what they want is unfulfilling. So I wrote it as this song that allows you to embrace who you really are and not be apologetic about it—and to just be excited about it. That was definitely my story. When that relationship ended, as sad as I was, it opened this road for me to be who I was, embrace that, and not to feel bad about it or sorry about it. That’s the overall message.
HC. I think that’s a great message to take on in anything in life, and just getting past all the negativity and going with whatever you think is right for you.
BE: Definitely. It’s so important.
HC: I know your songs are very different, but do you have that overarching empowering theme in most of your songs? Overall, are there any lessons that you hope your followers gain from your songs?
BE: I was just thinking about this the other day, another songwriter was talking to me about finding your overall message—every time I write a song, I write about everything itself. It's just about kind of finding those parts of you that are truly so real. I find that most of the songs that are on my EP are, in one way or another, about that moment and the excitement that comes from that—whether it’s the fears of society or whatever that makes ourselves ourselves. And “Time Of Our Lives” is all about living in your moment, living in the moment, and just appreciating everyone around you. Because sometimes don’t see that moment until it’s past and it’s about just living in that moment for yourself.
HC: Now that your EP is out and you just released your track “Time Of Our Lives,” is there a piece of advice that you would give your younger self?
BE: That’s a good question. I’ve probably said this a million times and it’s all about what my music is about, but I would say just to not be afraid of what other people think. If I could go back and tell myself that, or anything, I think that’s the best advice I could give myself.
