Brittany Broski knows what you’re thinking. We’re in an influencer economy where it feels like at any moment your favorite beauty reviewer could flood your feeds with an unexpected (and unwanted) pivot to a pop career. So, to have a well-known comedy and entertainment creator — first introduced to the world through a now-viral 21-second video trying kombucha for the first time — give a serious attempt to enter the music industry, it’s basically asking for a world of scrutiny and derision online. Broski is well aware of all of this — she just doesn’t “give a fuck.”
“I’m not new to this,” she tells Rolling Stone over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. “I know how the internet disposes of people. But I’m blessed with a fan base, real Broski Nation believers, who have been asking for a project like this for a long time. And I’m finally at a place where it feels right.”
It’s this self assuredness, mixed with Broski’s signature blend of humor and Southern twang-dipped expletives, that have moved this creator from her one-off viral moment in 2019 into a major force in the influencer industry. The Texas native boasts more than 10 million followers on TikTok alone, hosts her fan-favorite podcast The Broski Report, and also stars in her medieval take on a celebrity interview show Royal Court — which has close to half a million subscribers on YouTube and regularly features guests like Charli XCX, Saoirse Ronan, Orville Peck, and Colman Domingo. Broski’s fans, also lovingly referred to as Broski Nation, are often drawn to the host for her brusque-remarks and full pride in fangirling out about artists, celebs, and even the latest BookTok hit. She’s won an audience by delighting in the silliness of most of her pursuits, gleefully putting Oscar-nominees in the hot seat, or throwing the camera back to sideline correspondents that just happen to be Timothée Chalamet. So her new single, “The Sun,” and upcoming album paint her in a light many people might not recognize her in — drop dead serious.
“Trying is cool again,” Broski says, pushing her curtain bangs back to get closer to the camera. “Cringe culture is dying. You’ve seen me a goofy goober fucking jester online for five years. I think I’m getting old enough where [I can say] here’s this more serious side of me and [have my fans] know I’m not going to stop being myself.”
Just because Broski is self-assured doesn’t mean releasing the project hasn’t brought on some nerves for her. She says that music has such a special place in her heart and career that she decided to release an interpolated cover of Harry Styles’ “Adore You” in March as a way to slowly dip her toes into the world. “You feel a bit naked,” she says. “It’s scary releasing that part of you. With ‘Adore You,’ I had a bit of cover, because it’s a clear homage to how much I love Harry Styles but at the same time showing you what I’m working with. With ‘The Sun,’ it feels like I’ve just ripped the towel open and I’m like “check it out.”
Broski’s debut single, produced and co-written by Luke Niccoli (Carly Rae Jepsen, the Kid LAROI), is pop rock song dripping with bluegrass guitar and nods to her influences, which include Mumford and Sons, Florence & the Machine, and Hozier. The live performance, released today, is an acoustic version of the song — stripping back the layers until the biggest things people will focus on is Broski and her mic. The majority of the project was written in Nashville, which Broski says allowed her to include more of her southern heritage directly into the heart of the work. “Getting together with people who have similar life experiences feels like such a safe place, she says. “They understand that tug of, ‘I’m from the South, and I feel Southern’ but at the same time, politically, I don’t identify with the South’s portrayal. So it’s nice to write with like-minded people.”
While Broski’s new single is the first of what she hopes will be a continued career in music, she notes that she’s always a fan first, “The earliest concert that changed my life was One Direction’s Midnight Memories [tour],” she says. “It was electric. The excitement in the room could have lit a fucking match, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. I remember thinking in high school, I’m wasting my fucking life away doing Wattpad, doing Tumblr, but all of that has been so incredibly helpful for where I am now and being an informed artist. I know what fans want.” And what’s the proof? Take the thumbs up she got from Styles’ team over the “Adore You” cover. “That means the world,” Broski says, before beginning to fan herself. “What the fuck are we talking about? I blacked out. A little trickle of piss ran down my leg. But just a little bit!”
