[Exclusive Interview] Meet Brooklyn Juliana: The Talented Musician Entering His Next Era

Get to know more about the talented Brooklyn Juliana in this exclusive interview.

When we think about musicians that need even more recognition for their talents, the name Brooklyn Juliana comes to mind! 

Currently hailing from Vancouver, Canada, Brooklyn is a singer-songwriter with a fairy-tale love affair with music. As a teenager, he would occasionally skip class to sing and play the piano in his high school auditorium. Having a golden voice that drew attention, it was only a matter of time before he gained international fanfare. His passion for entertainment captured the attention of fans online, which led to his performing around the world throughout 2018 and 2019. In particular, Brooklyn did all of this BEFORE his official debut. Pretty cool, right?

Brooklyn debuted on August 9, 2019, with the single “Young Love.” This was followed by his subsequent projects, Imagine, Imagine (English Version), and I’m Gonna Love You. The following year, Brooklyn kicked off his first tour, I’M GONNA LOVE YOU TOUR, in the summer of 2022, weaving his way through the U.S. and Europe. Days before the final show, a fan’s TikTok video of him went instantly viral, flooding him with hundreds of thousands of new fans, followers, and comments online.

Fast forward to today, Brooklyn Juliana is releasing the music video for his latest single, “Thinking About You.” The deeply personal and introspective alt-pop song highlights the dawn of a new era for Brooklyn and one we are extremely excited for. 

Hellokpop had the privilege of getting to sit down with Brooklyn Juliana to talk about his latest release, his creative process, what’s next, and more.

Hellokpop: Hello! Thank you for taking the time to speak to Hellokpop. Can you introduce yourself to our readers? 

Brooklyn: Hi guys, I’m Brooklyn Juliana, and I’ve just released my single, “Thinking About You.” The music video just came out, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done. I’m so happy.

Let’s kick this off with a couple of fun icebreaker questions:

HKP: Where are you today?

Brooklyn: I’m in the studio!

HKP: Are you working on new stuff? 

Brooklyn: I’m definitely working on new music. I’ve got some really fun ideas that I can’t wait to show you all.

HKP: How do you stay connected to your fans? 

Brooklyn: I think the number one way that I stay connected with my fans is really through the art and putting myself in it. If you watch my videos and listen to my music, there are so many easter eggs in there that my fans know very well about me. In “Thinking About You,” I’m actually playing some games on my Nintendo Switch. There’s a lot of stuff that I love that’s really in there.

HKP: What emoji do you use the most? 

Brooklyn: It’s definitely the dry smiley. I find it’s a little more calm and can sometimes be a little sarcastic. It’s a lot of fun to use.

HKP: Three songs are currently on your playlist:

Brooklyn: Well, it really depends on what playlist because I got a lot of playlists. But I do have a playlist for a bunch of songs that are inspiring my album. Let’s see, what have we got here? We got “Positions” by Ariana Grande, “Neurotica” by a band called Polyphia — they’re awesome — and we got “All That Matters” by Justin Bieber because it’s nice to kind of do a throwback.

HKP: Congratulations on your latest single, “Thinking about you!” What kind of impact do you hope the song has on listeners?

Brooklyn: Well, the character that’s singing — the voice there — he’s quite flawed. The lyric goes, “I’m thinking ‘bout you; Do I tell you, maybe not yet; Let you know when I’m dead.” And everybody experiences this. I wanted to write a song where we acknowledge that that is a flaw, no matter how adamant we are about that stance. And when my character in the music video gets over that flaw, that’s his arc. And then happiness happens. So that’s the message I hope people take away from it — that you should be honest with your feelings.

HKP: How would you introduce someone to “Thinking About You” in one word or phrase? 

Brooklyn: For me right now, the word that comes to mind is “joy.” It brings me a lot of joy to see the music video. It’s my art in its purest form. And it’s a romantic song, of course, because I’m a romantic guy.

HKP: “Thinking About You” does a great job of articulating a budding love story that is about to unravel. Could you talk us through the process of writing it?

Brooklyn: The song is inspired by real experiences. We’ve all been there — the summer comes around, and you suddenly find yourself hanging out with the girl you’re thinking about. And you don’t know how this happens, but it does. You talk to your friends and they say, “Oh, you should tell her.” And I’m like, “Yeah, maybe not yet.” I think everybody kind of wants a fairy tale ending at the end of the summer, so that’s something I thought would make people feel joy and happiness. Those are recurring themes in the song — getting over your fears is going to make you feel good.

HKP: Your music video for “Thinking About You” is – WOW. That’s the only way to describe it. Can you talk us through it?

Brooklyn: The video is absolutely stunning. I had the greatest cast and crew on the planet work with me on this. I also directed it. This year I spent a little bit of time studying 35mm film, all the ins and outs of that, and how to really capture an era. The whole video kind of looks and feels like something that was filmed in the 2000s, right? And to me, that felt quite timeless, like a lot of movies I watched growing up around that time.

HKP: What makes this song different from your previous releases? 

Brooklyn: Other than the fact that it’s in English, it’s a little more introspective. I’m sharing some of my personal flaws. I’ve described myself as a chronic over-thinker, and that’s really present in the lyrics here. I don’t believe in trying to convince people that you’re absolutely perfect.

HKP: “Imagine” remains such an important song in your catalog – what can you tell us about it?

Brooklyn: I love that song. It’s dark. It’s campy. The dance is so cool. It’s a really fun song to perform live. I think it’s a fan favorite. I basically cosplayed as Sabrina Morningstar in the video. It’s something I had wanted to do because I was obsessed with the show “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” at the time. I’m really fortunate that this whole time I’ve been able to get out all my creative ideas and put them out in the world, and people seem to like it.

HKP: What’s an average day like for you?

Brooklyn: I wake up, and the first thing I do – I keep my iPad on me all the time – I get up to date with the world, write a couple of emails, and do business. By lunchtime, I’ve made my way into the studio, and I start some writing. I actually like to practice my musicianship a lot; just try to improve and connect a little bit better. I get the technical stuff out of the way so the creative can take over. And then I’m writing, I’m recording. When I’m touring, it’s a lot of traveling. So that’s pretty typical for me. When you’re in L.A., getting anywhere takes about an hour or two at least. Lately, I’ll pay a visit to the editing room where we cut the music video, and it’s all colored. I talk and talk and talk and make lots of decisions. We cut in a shot that I like and take one out that we don’t like. We really finesse the product for my audience. And I would say that’s my day. It’s sometimes quite busy.

HKP: What do you think is the biggest misconception about being a musician?

Brooklyn: I think a lot of people in my shoes go through this, but a misconception is that the music you make might be the music you listen to and that your motivations might be for vanity. A lot of us make music because we want to be professionals and we want to entertain people. And we hate the idea of messing ing that up or messing up someone’s day because of ego. So the great misconception is that we might have an ego, but in reality, we’re working really hard, and we’re our own worst critics.

HKP: We read that you get inspiration to write your songs from personal experience. Was there ever a time when it was difficult for you to share such personal lyrics?

Brooklyn: I can’t say there’s been a time that’s been difficult because I like being honest. I can’t really get music out of myself, if I’m not honest. Perhaps, there will be a day when a topic I’ve never shared with anyone makes it into my music. But I don’t think when that day comes, it’ll actually be all that difficult.

HKP: Did your environment growing up cultivate your passion for music? 

Brooklyn: It’s not to say that I didn’t grow up with musicians who were pretty good at what they did, but I think I saw a distinct lack of real performers — people who were committed to the show and making that as flawless as it can be. So when I was younger, I always thought I could do it better. I’m here now, and I’m still trying to prove myself. And I hope that I can live up to my own expectations, ultimately.

HKP: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Brooklyn: Trust yourself. I feel like there’ve been plenty of moments where I trusted what others had to say. And you can lose months, maybe even years, by surrounding yourself with the wrong people. If you’ve got a goal, you just have to trust your instinct. You may not know why this is your desire, but trust your gut, and you’ll understand a bit later.

HKP: Is there anything you haven’t had a chance to do yet in music that you’d like to explore?

Brooklyn: There are a lot of things. There are so many instruments I want to use because, you know, I really love music. I’m working on stuff with full brass sections and violins and lots of fun guitar licks. There are lots of places I’d like to explore. And all those sounds, I really believe, could be applied to any kind of music, whether it’s a darker song, a more fun pop song, or something that just rocks.

HKP: What’s next for you?

Brooklyn: I’m recording the rest of my album, and we’re going to pick some singles from there. I’m really looking forward to showing people everything I’ve got.

HKP: Lastly, please leave a message for fans reading this.

Brooklyn: If any of my fans are reading this, thank you for reading and thank you for being a fan. You guys changed my life, so I hope that I can change yours. 

Connect with Brooklyn on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Tiktok.

Listen to his discography on Spotify or Apple Music.

Special thanks to Brooklyn Juliana for this exclusive interview.