Brooke White

“As a singer-songwriter, I don’t have any barriers,” says Brooke White with a disarming ease, the piercing calm of her eyes only enhancing the soothing tone of her voice as she speaks. “For the type of music that I play, I think it’s important that I remain unguarded and open, vulnerable... Vulnerable is something that I both am, and at times wish I wasn’t. It’s the only way I know how to be, and when you are that way, it allows for things to get in that can really be damaging.” It’s the way Brooke White deals with that damage that makes her music so inviting, her personality so compelling, and her company so endearing. Even meeting her in a crowded restaurant amidst the bustle of a Los Angeles lunch hour, she makes a connection that feels so personal, you can’t help but sense that you’ve known her half your life. Twenty minutes later, you feel like you’ve known her your whole life. That is the magic of Brooke White, and that magic resonates within High Hopes & Heartbreak, the former nanny’s first full-length release since she became an American Idol finalist in 2008. Brooke made her first impression on Idol’s seventh season when she told the judges that she’d never watched an R-rated movie, prompting Simon Cowell to offer to bring her “to the dark side.” But as viewer’s found out throughout her charmed run to a Top 5 finish, the Phoenix, AZ, native exists like a beacon of light that shines through that dark, a passionate swirl of willowing soul and ‘70s flavored gold. “The show was really big for me,” she explains, not referring to the exposure American Idol provided her, instead noting the psychological impact of the larger-than-life reality surrounding the contestants. “I felt very small on the show, and I started out a lot more naïve about it, which is why I think I was better off in the beginning. You’re in this very protective bubble where you’re away from the media, you don’t look online if you don’t want to, and you just go out there and you do your best each week. It wasn’t until I got farther along that it started to become very emotional for me.” For many, it was that emotion that made Brooke’s music so engaging. And for Brooke, it has always been the music that helped her keep her emotions at bay. She credits that to her upbringing. The oldest of four siblings, her parents passed their love of music on to their children, and that love has blossomed in Brooke. “My upbringing is entirely the reason that I am the artist that I am today,” she says. “My parents are hardcore music fans, and we grew up in a small house, close together all the time. We didn’t watch a lot of TV, it was constantly about music. It was the glue that held us together. We’d go on drives just to listen to a Carole King tape, or Fleetwood Mac or the Carpenters. Music was the therapy that made us very happy as a family… I’m not an average music listener. I do this because I really do love it.” High Hopes & Heartbreak is a remarkable testament to not only Brooke’s talents as a singer and songwriter, but also to her love for the music that shaped her. The album bristles with an airy warmth and humble resolve, her pitch-perfect timbre evoking modern day comparisons to Carole King and Carly Simon. What makes it even more remarkable is that White, now 26, was born more than a decade after the release of King’s Tapestry and Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” a song that Brooke turned heads with on Idol, leading Carly Simon to tell the Associated Press, “This girl is so talented, and she sings the song so much better than I ever did or could.” Brooke glows as she recalls the praise of one of her own idols, “That means so much to me, because from a young age I was attached to old music. It was all so special to me…” The irony is, there’s nothing old about the music on High Hopes & Heartbreak. Sure, there are moments that flash back, but the album is a brilliant composite of contemporary styles, washing America’s love affair with singer-songwriters in a bath of bare-naked pop. The title track could follow James Blunt just as easily as it lends itself to a disco-dance remix, “When We Were One” and “Little Bird” unfold like country chart-toppers, “California Song” is an acoustic explosion of summertime pop, and “Sometimes Love” and “Be Careful” offer a silky weave of heart-on-a-sleeve vocals and stripped-down instrumentation that would make John Mayer stop and take notice. Each of the twelve songs on High Hopes & Heartbreak has its own pronounced character, but they are bound by Brooke White’s voice, a super glue of tone, texture and character. “Music is a sensory experience, that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what I really wanted to capture on this album,” she says. With that in mind, she decided to release this album through her own label, June Baby Records. “After meeting with a number of labels and discussing which producers and writers they wanted to team me with, it just started to feel like I was losing myself. It was like here I am, and there is a record way far away that I can’t even touch. I was afraid there were too many layers, and I wouldn’t be able to create without all of this other stuff getting in the way of the music,” she says of the decision to start June Baby Records, with the major-label backing of Fontana Distribution. “I knew in my mind the type of record that I wanted to make, and I think I would have come away feeling disappointed had I let someone else have that much say in the process. I felt like I was losing the vision and I just needed to go… And I did, and here we are.” As much as High Hopes & Heartbreak is unadulterated Brooke White, she is quick to credit producer Dave Cobb [Chris Cornell, Shooter Jennings, Jamie Johnson, Michael Johns] with helping to shape the sound. They co-wrote half the album together, including “Hold Up My Heart,” which was written within their first hour of working together. Their musical chemistry was immediate and undeniable. “When he pressed record and the band started to play, that moment was so poignant for me, it was like a drug. It was music happening in its purest form, so instantaneous, so human, so organic... I listened to it all night and called my dad in the morning and told him that he had to hear it – he started laughing, and I was crying. It was exactly what I wanted. I met with other producers, but in the back of my mind I knew for certain that this was the way to go. I had to have more of it, I was addicted…” In an era that seems to lean more and more heavily on technology with every passing fad and fleeting sensation, Brooke White wants nothing more than to embrace music in its purest strains. Rather than sucking the soul out of a song, she wants to let its spirit run free. Like all the music she grew up loving, it’s the essence of the human being that keeps the songs from sounding the same. And that essence, that emotion, is what she captures vividly on High Hopes & Heartbreak. “I’m a very emotional person,” she concludes, bringing the conversation full-circle, and back to the vulnerability that drives her art. “Emotional as in intense, passionate and I care about everything. I definitely feel like I have certain scars from exposing myself that way, but it’s the way I am… And I’m sure it’s the way I’m going to keep being.” As we get up to leave the restaurant, she flashes an uncertain smile: “I hope there’s some stuff there for you to work with…” Don’t worry, there’s plenty. The beautiful thing about Brooke White is, her story tells itself. She is living and breathing the same dream that she has reveled in since her childhood. Music is her love, her pain, her joy and her sorrow. It is her life, unguarded and open, vulnerable… And with High Hopes & Heartbreak, her vulnerability becomes our reward.