Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Brooks.
Hi Claire, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Los Angeles into a family of artists. I learned to paint before I learned how to write and I drew on pretty much everything: notebooks, textbooks, sidewalks and all of my shoes. I wrote the music and sang to myself to process the weight of being a 5-year-old adult stuck in the body of a small child, and I would roll up up to elementary school sporting hand-sewn t-shirts and a plasticine grapefruit slice hanging around my neck.
Among all of the artistic skills I explored when I was younger, I began to leverage my musical talents in the academic space, using school presentations as opportunities to write educational raps for my class, teaching peers about bowhead whales one period and maternal depression the next, all over lofi hip hop youtube beats.
When I was 16, I performed an original song at a talent show and remember some people in the audience crying. It was the first time I saw my music connecting with people on an emotional level. All these feelings I had been exploring alone in my bedroom had suddenly been illuminated in others and the power music had on the world started to reveal itself to me.
Like many musicians, I love math– beautiful proofs, fractals, and the excitement of finding solutions to a problem. My connection with math makes my music multidimensional.; I see shapes and patterns within melodies and the personalities of a chord, along with the colors of the numbers as they appear in my head. I began to ask more from my musical abilities than words and fell face-first into the world of music production.
Having just graduated from Stanford University with a B.S in Mechanical Engineering, the knowledge I have of the creation of sound from movement has grown and I continue to find new ways to play; manipulating analog synthesizers, production software, the flaps of my vocal folds and the grooves of my brain.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road that led me to where I am now was scenic and beautiful, yet nauseatingly windy. I had about five big career switches before I even graduated college. Dream jobs in chronological order:
– Farmer, 2-7 years old. I grew up in a no videogame household and spent my free time building mudslides in the backyard and digging up earthworms.
– Artist (of no particular medium), 7-13. Re: second paragraph of answer one.
– Trauma Surgeon, 14-18. I started watching informational surgical videos after getting a mole removed in middle school. People would look over my shoulder to see someone using their 3mm microblade to make an incision down a woman’s breastplate. At 17, I got my EMT certification and entered college as a Human – – Biology major. (My ego lasted two weeks in Stanford’s intro chemistry class before entering my 4th career crisis.)
– Psychologist, 18. Turns out I just needed one.
– Mechanical Designer, 19 on. I stumbled upon Product Design by chance. I like to describe it as the Mechanical Engineering major if you shave off the higher-level physics courses and replace them with psychology and art classes. I started working at LoveFrom, the creative collective founded by Sir Jony Ive, my sophomore year, where I gained hands-on experience with some of the most brilliant and creative minds I’ve ever met. When I wasn’t in the machine shop on campus, I was in the office at LoveFrom, helping out in any way I could.
Through all of this, a part of me knew I would pursue music professionally. I had always done it on the side but never allowed it to take up all of my time due to a messy entanglement of fears regarding stability, respect from others, and failing myself.
My struggles seem to stem from too much excitement for the rabbit holes I fall into and always wanting to learn more. Having graduated in 2022, I’m just now finding the courage within myself to commit to the music world. In the last six months, I’ve released a few songs I’ve been sitting on for years and am currently working on a new project that I’m just so excited about.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I sing, write, produce, play guitar, bass, piano, and live shows around Los Angeles. I directed my first video just recently, the music video for Body Language, linked below. And my best work is yet to come as I put the finishing touches on my first EP that will soon be yours as much as mine.
I’m most proud of my ability to see projects through.
I have an unapologetic approach to the spaces I explore which definitely sets me apart. I love to solve problems and actualize my goals. I kind of have a blind spot to obstacles – if there’s something in my way, I don’t really notice it and just do the thing anyway. It’s really helped me get to where I am now.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Just do the damn thing! And always have a contract, lol.
Contact Info:
- Website: clairebrooksmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clixr/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-brooks/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/clixrbrooks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQow5GjaSvjt-SSPdBQOzMg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/clairebrooks
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1MoEDGaAMr0yXNhJkhAshB
Image Credits
Allison Borodzicz, Achilleas Ambatzidis, Noah Montello
