005: BRONZE AVERY
Bronze Avery is defining what it means to be a pop-star. Still fresh into his career, the rising star is making waves by being unapologetically queer, delivering fresh, powerfully structured pop songs, and giving back to his communities.
Words: Christopher Walsh
Photos: Justin Gilbert
Three months into a global pandemic and mandated quarantine, many of us have lost the motivation to be inspired or driven to create. Yet, Bronze Avery has never felt more creative. Over the phone, he paints a picture of being freshly inspired to be creating content non-stop. Starting his day earlier than most, the singer tells us that during quarantine he has been working on new music without any unneeded distractions. Despite being a designer, songwriter, producer, and art director, Bronze Avery ensures us that it’s always music first. When it comes to creating the universe of pastel flavored synths, dreamy visuals, and romanticizing about being in love with boys, he insists that it's always centered around the sound. His music reflects the similar pop-song formula that is displayed in early Gwen Stefani or Pussycat Dolls, who Avery states as significant influences. The Orlando native didn’t necessarily have a musically fused upbringing and only discovered his love for pop when he was recommended to listen to “Bubble Pop Electric,” from Stefani’s debut album, Love Angel Music Baby, and from then on, it was a forever love affair.
Avery is an artist who dabbles in everything to assure perfection is achieved. The pop singer has his hands in producing, writing, and creating the visuals for tracks all across his discography. When asked what made him gravitate towards making pop music, the singer explained that it just made sense. “It was all I ever listened to growing up. My mom and dad listened to music casually but they weren’t strong music lovers, they weren’t stanning. My friend in school told me to listen to ‘Bubble Pop Electric’ by Gwen Stefani and my whole life was changed. I went onto AOL Music that night and listened to the thirty-second preview of the song before buying it. So then, I started getting really deep into Limewire and started finding J-Pop and Disney Channel. Pop music just became my thing, it was something that I’ve personally loved and resonated with naturally. I began to love it so much that I started to study it. Creating pop music just felt like it made sense because that’s what I’ve been listening to my whole life.”
However, not having much of a musically influenced childhood, we asked for the specifics of when he started to make his own music. Avery told us that’s always something he has wanted to do. “Growing up, I was always singing. The only job I’ve ever wanted was to be a singer. I knew the only way I could do that would be to have songs. So I started singing over any instrumental that I could find online. I was doing that kind of by myself and not knowing what I was doing. As well as not realizing that songwriting could even be a career. I assumed if you were an artist with music, you wrote everything, because who else would’ve? But little did I know that’s not the truth at all. In high school, I did theater and choir and continued it in college. Around college, was when I got serious about recording. I’ve always dabbled around with different daws (digital audio workstation) but I’ve never really tried to dive in myself. So that’s when I started reaching out to different producers and getting connected. In the first couple of sessions I did they were mostly EDM tracks but that didn’t really work out. I just always knew from when I was very young, I always knew that this would be the goal eventually. I still feel like I’m working towards that same goal.”
Prior to the creation of Bronze Avery, the singer used his real name, Gabriel Brown, in order to create and release music. “Bronze Avery was born in 2017, beforehand I was releasing music under my real name. I’m not ashamed or running away from my real name or anything, it was just a really common name. There was already a YouTuber with a million subscribers. So I just wanted something really unique and now everyone calls me Bronze in my real life. Which I think is great, it’s how most people first meet me! I was also really sick of all the music I was making in the past and wanted to start really fresh and with Bronze Avery, it was the decision to be openly queer within my music and I think that was the missing key all along.” It really shows throughout his sound and his fanbase just how powerful it can be to truly live for yourself. His fanbase can be described as a safe haven community, where fellow young LGBTQIA+ members continue to uplift each other and support each other through art.
Yet, navigating in a white-dominated, cis-gendered music industry can prove to be challenging. To get your music heard at labels, you have to first go through A&Rs (artist & repertoire), people who work as middlemen between an artist and the label with the end goal to sign fresh talent. The LGBTQIA+ representation at major labels is almost little to none; with those who are in power usually leaving queer people or queer people of color feeling unheard and unrepresented. When asked if it has been a challenge to steer through as an openly queer black person in a white-dominated space, the singer expanded on his experience. “I feel like being queer was the only way to do it. I feel like if I tried to hide my identity, I would’ve never made it far because it's really hard hiding being queer, it would’ve been impossible for me to hide it. I think the only reason I have any type of fanbase is because of the majority of my fanbase is queer, which I’m super grateful for. Why not sing and talk with the people who are a part of my community? Those should be the people who really support me and help spread the word further. But it is tough, especially queer people of color, they’re just not considered a thing. There’s not really any signed queer people of color. There are not many signed pop black acts in general. So it really feels like I’m facing an uphill battle. But honestly, there’s really no other way to go about it, because if I tried to be someone else or lie, I don’t think I’d be successful anyway. I think the only way it's going to change is when there is more diversity and the people who have the power of amplifying those voices.”
“I feel like being queer was the only way to do it. I feel like if I tried to hide my identity, I would’ve never made it far because it's really hard hiding being queer, it would’ve been impossible for me to hide it.
The young rising star also gave thoughtful, inspiring advice for fellow aspiring LGBTQIA+ musicians: “The people who are going to support you the most are the people from your community. If you can create a real and natural fanbase with your community is the best thing you can do for yourself moving forward. In this industry, it’s really unpredictable if you’ll break into a more mainstream route but what will always keep your music and you alive are your fans. The best place to get fans is from people who are right there in your community. I think that’s what made the world a difference for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people who listen and support my music from my actual community. But I also think it's something that I didn’t understand, because it sounds pretty general like ‘build a fanbase’ but it really is true, if you have fans they will support you forever and will inspire you. You know when artists are like ‘my fans inspire me’ and you’re like ‘am I really inspiring you to make a song?’ but it really is true. The people who listen to my music and want to see me make more, actually inspire me to make more music or be better. I’m inspired to be better because of the people who listen to me. The fans are what matter the most.”
To have a successful, long-lasting career in music it's imperative that artists have a healthy and respectful relationship with their fans. Since 2017, Bronze Avery has been consistently releasing high-quality music alongside stunning visuals, which has rewarded him with a queer oriented fanbase that directly resonates with his music. But his work doesn’t just stem within his music, as Avery has been known for giving back to his communities as well. Whether it’s a quick PSA about the Black Lives Matter movement in a live performance or donating a percentage of revenue from merch sales to organizations like Black Girls CODE, Avery continues to be a positive force in both the black and LGBTQIA+ communities.
But the question still lingers, is there a debut album approaching on the horizon? Showing versatility throughout his discography while still maintaining his core style across each track, we’re wondering if his debut will reflect the sound we’ve been witnessing in releases such as “Boys” & “Only You.”
“I feel like I don’t have a plan or an album in the works. I’ve just been making a shit ton of songs. I feel like my sound has plenty of dimensions. You’re gonna get a moment like ‘Only You,’ a moment like ‘Boys’ and they’re still two completely different moments but still feel like me because it’s my style. That’s what has always excited me about pop music like if you listen to Blackout by Britney, every song sounds different but you can tell it’s from that era. And that’s the vibe I’ve always loved about pop music. Somewhere along the way, it became this weird thing to make all the songs on an album sound exactly the same. But I enjoy it when music sounds different. I love seeing artists display range and diversity and give you a bunch of different genres across an album. But I am writing a bunch, I want to start releasing music more frequently than holding onto things for a long time.” It’s safe to assume that it has been a challenge to create music and collaborate with others during a global pandemic, but Avery likes to differ. “Funny enough, I found it easier to make music in quarantine,” the singer said. “I thought it was gonna be harder because usually when I have a lot of time to be creative, I usually don’t because there’s a lot of pressure. But for some reason, I’ve just been feeling so inspired. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t see people regularly so I have more time for myself. I personally enjoy making music alone, I do collaborations when it's called for but my favorite way to make music is by myself.”
About the process of producing his own music, the young creative answered, “At the moment, I am (producing). All the stuff I’ve released has been about 50/50 but moving forward it will probably be about 90/10 of me producing everything. It's something I’ve been trying to hone in on and get a lot better at during the quarantine, which I’m super grateful for.”
Besides the smooth vocals and production, art direction is equally natural and important to the rising pop-star. He gave vital insight on being his own art director and visualizing his songs as he explained, “I consider art direction to be one of the stronger skills that I have, it’s a little bit more subtle. But I mean everything I do has such a high art direction to it. In the past, I never understood how powerful it can be to combine the visuals and the audio together, and because I’m fairly good at both of them, it seems like a no brainer. ‘Like why did I never care so much about that before?’ but once I did I felt like people started to really resonate with it. Growing up it felt that music was a selfish experience for me. I loved songs, and songs were the only thing I cared about. I wasn’t hyped about music videos or anything like that. As I got further into my career, I started to realize that you can really put the listener into a complete world and mood that you specifically want them to be in and know you for. That’s why I started to really focus on the visuals just as much, as I focus on the music.”
Avery’s talents and skills know no bounds, so when asked about the concepts behind some of his iconic visuals, the singer pointed out, “I do everything independently. However, I work really closely with Justin Gilbert who is an art director and photographer in LA. We’ve known each other since I lived in Orlando, so we’ve been in each other’s lives for super long. So we have a very close and great creative relationship. Usually, when I have a crazy idea about something, he’s the one to help me see it through if I can’t do it by myself. I can only do so much by myself.”
With quarantine having no definite end, due to COVID-19 cases consistently spiking throughout the United States, and because of ineffective counter precautions, we’ll continue to see a slight shift within the music industry. Artists will be adapting to different concepts like virtual concerts either via live-streaming, pre-recording, or an immersive virtual reality experience. However, artists like Bronze Avery are going to continue to create and uplift others within their community and beyond.