Earlier this month, Dundee's own Charlotte Brimner took a huge step in her music career, as her three-piece band, Be Charlotte, signed a worldwide record deal with Columbia/Sony Music. In other words, if you don't know about Be Charlotte by now, you're about to.
Charlotte's style is unique: a blend of digital and analogue pop, with soulful bursts of beat-boxing and rap, which punctuate cool, clear melodies. Her website says she is 'all about the damn good vibes', but those that know Charlotte know she's also about hard work, talent and ambition.
Charlotte has been supported by Creative Scotland through various different funding routes across the years. Back in 2012/13, she took part in Hit The Road - a youth music touring project for 14-19 year olds. In 2016, she received Open Project Funding to embark on a tour of South East Asia and record her debut album in Thailand. She was also a recipient of the PRSF International Showcase Fund, which gave her the opportunity to play at festivals such as Eurosonic and Midem.
Now that she's ready to go off and conquer the world, we caught up with her about her career so far, and what her hopes are for the future.
I started playing open mic nights in Dundee, and from that I built the confidence to keep playing gigs. That led to meeting lots of new people who helped me in the beginning of my career. I was really focused on just gigging and writing as much as possible to gain as much experience as I possibly could at that time.
I just kept building my team and making sure I was surrounded by the right people. After spending a few years developing my sound, I launched as Be Charlotte in 2016 and released a couple of singles. I was so surprised by the reaction to those songs and that led to lots of amazing opportunities to play shows and write songs in different parts of the world.
Authenticity is important to me, and that’s something I’m so focused on when writing, performing and sharing my life online- Be Charlotte
A career highlight was definitely playing Midem Festival in Cannes last June. It was the most surreal gig I’ve ever played - it was a stage right on the beach, right next to the water! So amazing. I’m very grateful to Creative Scotland for supporting me to get to Midem through the International Showcase Fund, it really was a life changing experience and I was so proud to be there representing Scotland. We drove from Glasgow to Cannes and it was absolutely worth every second spent in the van!
Paolo Nutini - He was the first pop artist from Scotland I heard singing in his own accent and his song Candy was the first song I ever learnt on guitar. It inspired me to try writing my own words and music.
Nina Nesbitt - I’ve followed her journey for quite a few years and it’s amazing to see how she’s developed as an artist. She’s writing some of the best pop music in the world right now.
Lewis Capaldi - It’s so inspiring to watch how quickly his songs have captured so many fans and put him as the biggest breakthrough artist right now. Such a great example of how an artist from Scotland can connect with a global through the power of songwriting.
Emeli Sande - I have always been a huge fan of Emeli’s music. Her first album inspired a lot of my songwriting, I loved her melodies and the storytelling. The songs have such powerful messages and were just saying something a bit different than a usual pop song.
I hope to inspire as many people as possible with the music that I write and portray an honest view of what it’s like to work in the music industry. Authenticity is important to me, and that’s something I’m so focused on when writing, performing and sharing my life online.
I’m so excited to be releasing new music this year and playing some gigs in new places.
Find out more about Be Charlotte at iambecharlotte.com.
