Multifaceted artist Brent de la Cruz has undergone a transformation, both in his artistry and as an individual. Years of self discovery and growth have led to his upcoming EP, marking his first project since his 2021 EP Finding Boo. Leaning into nostalgic themes and live instrumentation, this project signifies a new era for Brent. He’s set to kick off 2025 with the release of his latest single “streets” on January 3rd.
As a producer, writer, singer & instrumentalist, he leaves no stone unturned when it comes to his creative process. This project saw Brent’s genre shift from his previous work, leaning into a more dreamy, cinematic sound. Recently, he released his first fully produced music video for track “Soft Words,” creating nostalgic, dreamlike visuals.
Ahead of the release of his upcoming EP, I sat down with Brent to chat a bit about the “Soft Words” music video, his sonic evolution, and reflecting on the EP creative process.
Brigid: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me! I took a listen to the EP, so incredible! I know three of the tracks are already out, but the two that aren’t yet are great… I can’t wait for the world to hear those!
Brent: I’m so excited. The first three, I think it’s been since March of 2023. It’s been a minute since I’ve put anything out. This upcoming stuff… it feels good. Every time a release day comes around, it feels like a little holiday. I always look forward to it.
Brigid: Your most recent project was the music video you put out for “Soft Words,” which was your first big music video that you’ve made. What was that creative process like, and could you share a bit about the vision behind the video? There’s so much going on with the paper airplane, the shadowboxing, so many cool scenes.
Brent: It’s funny, I made this with a good friend of mine from high school. What you’re seeing is the production of a two man crew, it was kind of fun because him and I… growing up and going to school together, we have done videos together in the past for school projects and stuff. Him and I have a pretty cool workflow at this point. It’s a good dynamic. When we went into making this, I was like, dude, I’ve got this camera, let’s take a shot at this. We finished that probably over a year ago. It was just the two of us. As far as creative direction goes, in the upcoming things here, you’re going to see a lot of themes revolved around transportation. Liminal things, familiar stuff with a bit of unfamiliarity to it. Unfamiliar things with familiarity. All in short, it’s going to encapsulate a lot of dream aesthetics and nostalgia. I don’t want to give too much away right off the bat, but that’s kind of… if you could peek behind the curtain of this music video, it’s the beginning of world building for the rest of this project.
Brigid: That’s cool to have been able to work on this video with someone you’ve already worked with, it’s kind of a full circle moment.
Brent: We’ve already filmed some stuff for some upcoming things, we have a little more experience under our belts too. I’m confident in saying it’s only going to get better, too. It’s a good feeling, it really is.
Brigid: This EP is your first project since 2021’s Finding Boo, how did the creative process for this EP differ from the last?
Brent: A big piece of it is live instrumentation. Around Finding Boo, when I was putting out that project, I had just started picking up guitar. I think the first song I wrote on guitar was “Perfect.” As of right now, that’s one of my most well performed songs. I remember writing that in my living room, some of the first chords I could play. I think as far as this project goes… I can actually play the guitar now. I’m coming up on close to five years. I’m not the best at it by any means, but I’m confident in saying I play guitar. I think as far as the creative process goes, it takes you into a space that you’re not tied to your computer. I think being able to go outside or go to the beach, go somewhere else outside of your room and write, has really opened my mind to some of the topics I’m trying to write about. I think being able to get out of the studio and still endure in the creative process influenced this project a lot.
Brigid: Your sound has evolved as well, of course from your first few singles in 2019, but even since Finding Boo. Do you feel that leaning into live instrumentation is what fueled that sonic journey?
Brent: Yeah, I think that’s a big piece of it. Like anything too, it’s kind of like a big pendulum of going all the way live instrumentation, then being like, maybe that isn’t what this song needs. Swinging back and forth between it. Ultimately, I think it opened a whole new side of things. Prior I didn’t have the expertise to express those ideas, starting off just being tied to a DAW and computer. It’s really easy to get into a binary mode of production, everything is on a grid. I feel like everyone starts off like that, if you start making music on a computer. Then you learn it’s kind of okay if things are off the grid… this sounds better out of tune. Weird things that just come with time, I think.
Brigid: When it comes to your studio sessions now, do you approach them a certain way? Is there a structure, or does it vary?
Brent: It varies, I don’t have a specific answer but I will say when I’m doing sessions by myself, those specifically I wouldn’t even call them sessions. I’ll just be hanging out all day, I’m having fun. When I go into sessions with collaborators, the first thing I like to do is talk, which others would consider [wasting] time for an hour. That’s the way I prefer to do it. Until you start getting familiar with people, you don’t really know what song can come out of it. Maybe that’s something that’ll evolve with time, but first thing I like to do is hang out and talk. See what the other person’s into. Especially if it’s my first time meeting them, I think ice breaking is almost more important than starting the song most of the time. Once you get into it, I feel like usually I like to start with chords and find the emotion of what we’re trying to go for. What I like to do, I’ve been doing this a lot more lately, is then go to drums. That can kind of dictate the genre really quickly. Then it’s like, how do I find rhythm for these drums with these chords that we were doing? That’s kind of how I’ve been doing things lately, it hasn’t always been that way. It’s a formula that works for me now, and I default to. But honestly, it changes, it changes a lot.
Brigid: Reflecting on the creative process for this EP, what did you find yourself inspired by?
Brent: A big one is nostalgia. It’s such a big thing. There’s something so bittersweet about the experience that nostalgia is, and what it means for everybody. For me specifically, it comes with a lot of happiness and there’s a sense of loss that also comes with it. Memories can be so bittersweet, even if they’re just good memories. The idea of that has really dictated this creative path that I’ve been on lately. The combination of like, this sounds like a really happy song, but if you really listen to it and start singing the lyrics… One of my favorite songs, “Hey Ya!” by Outkast, he even says in the song: “Y’all don’t want to hear me, you just want to dance.” I remember when I first found out what that song was actually talking about, it’s like breaking the fourth wall. Something about that… having something that can feel so warm and sweet, but also the reality and grounded side of it. There’s two sides of the coin.
Brigid: Nostalgia is such an interesting emotion to navigate, because there are so many layers to it like you said. By channeling that into this project, did you feel that it was healing in any way?
Brent: I’d like to think so. I really would. I think, as time goes on too, I get more in tune with myself and what I want to do. Being creative, in general, is something that leans into something that ultimately is healing. It’s really interesting because sometimes it doesn’t feel like it on the surface, but then you get down the road and realise I kind of worked through something that might’ve been there that was subconsciously weighing on me. Sometimes it’s hard to see in the moment. Coming out on the other side, as this project’s making a wrap on the creative stuff… the music itself, now it’s just the visuals and getting the rollout done, I’ve kind of come a long way. It’s a healing thing. It’s also healing the inner child as well, like damn. You’re actually doing this shit, and it’s sick.
Brigid: I love that! You mentioned being more in tune with yourself, do you feel like that bleeds into your music as well? Do you feel like this body of work and what you’re creating now is your most authentic art?
Brent: Yeah. Every time I finish a song, I get one step closer to the music I’m trying to make. It’s a weird thing. I hope it stays that way, ultimately every time I finish a track I’m like: This is the best thing I’ve made. I think as time goes on, it’s one of those things where I feel I get more in tune… same thing when that next birthday comes around, I do kind of feel the same, a lot’s happened in this past year. If you really think about it, it’s like, I did grow. Every time I finish a new song, I look back like: This is getting better, I’m liking this more and more each time. I remember starting off, the first year or two I was producing, it’s tough. Those early stages can be so tough because you know what you want to make, you just have no idea how to do it. You’re going through what feels like an endless loop. Time goes on, you figure out like, I gotta tune my 808s. I don’t know how long, I didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t know what that even meant. Now, every time I get further into a song, it’s like, I actually listen to this. Some of the stuff I have on the upcoming EP and everything I’m working on, I’m finally in a space where I can disconnect myself from it and genuinely enjoy it. That’s something above all that I’m really excited about. I can listen to myself and feel like I can enjoy it as a listener. As opposed to like… I know this is a common thing, when people hear a recording of their own voice, they hate the way they sound. That’s a very normal sing with the music too, I didn’t like my voice at first. As time goes on, I feel like it’s something I’m getting used to. I can listen to it and be less critical of myself.
Brigid: That’s really cool to be able to get to that place. When it comes to songwriting, do you feel your relationship with songwriting has evolved? Do you approach it differently than you used to?
Brent: Yeah, I 100% do. This is something I think also comes with experience. The more you’re able to write, and I don’t even mean just songwriting, just journaling and putting stuff out in the world. Being able to tap into something that’s productive, as far as writing goes, that’s been a huge key to storytelling in general, because at the end of the day, that’s kind of what this is. If you’re able to build those chops as good as you can, I think that translates into other things. On top of that, the past couple years I’ve had the most profound life experiences as well. The combination of writing more and having some of the coolest moments in my life, those two things have been able to join together into what I consider stuff that’s more inspiring to me, and I think will resonate with people better. At the end of the day, there’s multiple ways to write songs. You can be literal, you can be metaphorical. You can dance that line between, write from different people’s perspectives. It’s really an art form in of itself, music aside. You can evoke a similar emotion in 30 seconds of great storytelling that someone was trying to do in an hour with a short film. I’ve been really trying to work on that lately.
Brigid: Looking back on the creative process for this EP, do you have a favorite moment or memory? Maybe a session that stands out, or a moment that something clicked?
Brent: It’s funny because I feel like those moments that click… there are some that happen in the studio, don’t get me wrong, but the big ones happen outside of making music. Sometimes the process of making music can be very short and sweet, sometimes they flow out and that’s the way it goes. Sometimes they take months, or it’s a one night deal. I think the things that last and carry through those music making sessions happen outside of the actual studio. One that comes to mind is with this upcoming single. I drove up from either San Diego or LA up to San Francisco, drove up the coast. That was the furthest I had driven on my own. I still had plans there and people expecting me, so if something did go wrong, they would be like, ‘hey, have you heard from Brent’ or whatever. But being able to just go through a place with no cell service for hours, the thought of my car breaking down… I was like, you know what, at the end of the day if anything happens, my car breaks down, I can’t get triple A out here with no service, it’s a good fucking story. I’m kind of down with it. Being able to just readjust my mind around something that someone might be kind of nervous about, and I was really excited for it… like, what if my tire pops right now? I don’t want it, but if it happens right now I’m going to roll with it. That dictated the rest of the week up in San Francisco, where I was like, I was approaching it with a different attitude towards each of the sessions. Some of these moments outside of the studio will translate in, and you have a different method of thinking even if it’s just for a day. There’s these moments that happen that bleed into how you write, and dictate the flow of whatever you’re working on at the time. It’s such a subtle thing, but those are the big ones.
Brigid: I love that answer, it’s cool to hear how moments outside of the studio can impact the creative process. To wrap up here, when it comes to this upcoming EP, what do you hope listeners will take away from it?
Brent: I like to try and put myself in other people’s shoes, especially on the art side of things. What I want as an artist for people to experience is a lot of the time not what it’s gonna be. As a listener and as a fan of music in general, I think what I would want for someone else to take from it is just to be a supplement to their life in some sort of way. You’re walking to go get coffee, doing homework, playing basketball… I had these artists when I was a kid, these formative years of my life, that I would listen to religiously. I think it would be really cool if I was able to be that for someone out there. Give a little inspiration to people. Take it from the lyrics, take it from the song. Music alone is only so powerful unless you add it to some type of emotion, of what you’re going through. Then, all of a sudden, it becomes a whole new thing. Ultimately, I want people to let it play a part in their life, that hopefully changes something for the better. One of the main things that I think is really cool about music is that unlike film, which is also a huge passion of mine, something that’s uniquely cool about music is that you have the ability to tie it to your daily life and whatever you’re doing. You can have it be a supplement to any part of your day. You’re able to listen to music and have it dictate some type of motivation for yourself. It’s portable, is the biggest thing. Music is best when it’s holding hands with other experiences.
Listen to Brent de la Cruz here!
