brent forever: Inside The Immersive World of Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker’s ‘brent’ Series
Samantha Colleran, December 2024
Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker first dropped onto the music scene as a duo in 2019 with their hit “You Were Good To Me”. Since its release, Chelsea and Jeremy has developed a series called brent, consisting of two EPs (i and ii) and an album (iii). Following the sound of their friendship, the duo has created a unique blend of Chelsea’s EDM pop background and Jeremy’s eclectic style. The result of every release is a cozy, safe space full of vulnerable lyrics and soaring instrumentals for fans to escape to.
Friendship is at the heart of everything Chelsea and Jeremy create together. They’re comfortable enough to be vulnerable in songwriting and conversations, as well as work out their differing opinions. Although their songs are typically inspired by experiences outside of their friendship, the two are able to vent to each other and put their perspectives together in a way that makes it feel as if they’re singing about the same event. Working together for five years has allowed them to learn when the other needs space or to be pushed creatively without getting mad at each other. The pair are constantly praising each other. Jeremy admires Chelsea’s freedom when it comes to creating, and has learned to be more spontaneous when working on new music. Chelsea has learned everything about collaboration and teamwork from this series of releases, and admires Jeremy’s production skills.
When first beginning brent in 2019, it was all about exploring the partnership and discovering their sound together. As the duo have grown and changed over the past few years and experienced more complex feelings and situations, the storylines have naturally evolved into something more specific and emotional. Although many of the songs on brent iii are written about personal experiences, fans have found comfort and safety in the lyrics. Tour setlist and album opener “ashes & rust” is a solid introduction to the world of brent iii, and a personal favorite. It builds slowly, but when the instruments all come together and you’re hit with the intensity of it all, it’s a truly beautiful moment both on the record and in their live performances.
The pair agree that they wanted brent iii to happen organically, like the previous installments of the series. There were a couple of false starts, but scheduling conflicts led them to put a pause on continuing. Once they were able to get their schedules coordinated, they were able to spend a solid amount of time together creating. Escaping to a cabin in Connecticut for a week, they wrote tracks such as upbeat “A-frame”, lyrically honest “and the government too!”, and the final piece of the brent iii puzzle, “black & white”. As a whole brent iii is simple sounding on the surface, but as you pick apart the lyrics and pay close attention to the production of each track, you’ll find yourself slowly being pulled into Jeremy and Chelsea’s world and not wanting to leave. They have a knack for capturing the magic of raw human emotion, and it’s easy to understand why their music has captured the hearts of thousands of fans around the world.
In terms of the future of the brent universe, Chelsea and Jeremy will never shut the door on expanding it down the line, but for now don’t want to minimize the impact of the project by jumping into another brent project. The two will continue to collaborate, whether they’re writing together for solo projects or writing for other people. For now, you can stream brent iii on your preferred streaming services (Apple Music, Spotify), and be sure to follow Chelsea and Jeremy on Instagram to stay up to date on their future releases and collaborations!
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