Who is brent? The title of Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler's three-part project isn't the name of a friend, family member, or ex, but it comes from a leisurely drive past Brentwood Road, back in 2019.
Escaping the buzz of New York, the artists decided to crash on air mattresses and couches for a week, piecing brent together in a one-room carriage house studio in the Berkshires. The immaculate five-song EP was what Zucker called a "beautiful accident," spawning the double-Platinum "you were good to me" among other stirring indie tracks.
But the EP's brilliance was no accident. The pair first met at a fraternity party in 2016 (more on that later), when their independent DIY careers were just barely beginning: Zucker had released his first two EPs (Beach Island and Breathe) in 2015, and Cutler was in the process of crafting her 2017 debut EP, Snow In October. While they each had their own style, they shared a similar lo-fi sound and contemplative approach to love, whether lost or found. So when they met up to write a song together for the first time in 2018, their mutual creative magic was instant — and it led them not only to brent, but also brent ii and brent iii.
Moving away from their first project's personal themes of insecurity and angst, 2021's brent ii found itself rooted in the beauty and hope of relationships, offering a positive outlook during a difficult time for many globally. Three years later, brent iii — the duo's first full-length album together — both takes their profound artistic partnership to new heights and gracefully bookends the brent project.
"We didn't think it was going to be an album at first, but we were just like, third time's the charm," Zucker shared with GRAMMY.com. "It ended up being an album and it seemed like a nice way to close the page — and have brent live as a thing that lives forever."
Though brent iii marks the end of the series in the studio (for now, at least), they're not yet done on stage: fans will get to celebrate the duo's music live on the month-long Brent Forever: The Tour, which kicked off Nov. 15 in Chicago. Brent Forever: The Tour features most tracks from all three brent projects, and will stop in 10 cities total across the U.S. and Canada. The trek is the first time the two have toured together, and, as signaled by its name, immortalizes the beauty of the brent project and their forever friendship.
In celebration of the album and the tour, the pair Zoomed in from New York to chat with GRAMMY.com about their first impressions of each other, how they wrangle their sporadic creativity, and how they captured all the magic on brent iii.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Let's talk about brent iii! Tell me about the moment you realized that you wanted to make a third project.
Jeremy Zucker: I feel like we always knew. Ever since this we put the second [project] out and the response was incredible, I feel like we knew we were going to do a third.
There's a group chat and when [brent ii] came out I was like, "Okay, let's start brent iii"! And then Chelsea was like, "What?" [Laughs.] It was a joke, but it was also serious. I was like, why would we not?
How did working on brent iii feel different from working on your other brent sessions?
Chelsea Cutler: Probably the biggest difference is that in the past, we've kind of given ourselves a bit of a time constraint. In the past, we've rented a studio for a week and gone there and written the project inside of that week. And then with brent iii, we took the approach of let's give ourselves as long as it takes to just get the best project.
So we wrote it over the course of about a year. And we rented different studios and different Airbnbs over the course of that year, in New York, LA. And up in Big Bear, we did a week. We gave ourselves time to breathe and sit with everything, and it really lent itself to making a pretty good project.
You made your first brent project in 2019. How do the 2024 versions of Chelsea and Jeremy compare to the 2019 versions, and how do you think that impacted your music?
Zucker: We were small.
Cutler: So naive.
Zucker: Yeah, I think we were really innocent and still figuring out who we were as artists individually. We were both very relieved when we started working together, to do something that was so natural. To me at the time, it was more clear than what I was as an artist alone. The music that we made together — it was so specific and natural.
Cutler: I definitely would echo that as well. brent is a thing that's had a really defined identity even before we totally knew what it was. And that's been a really wonderful constant, kind of in the midst of our own identities changing as individual artists over the years. So it's been really nice to have that.
Apprehension might be too strong a word, but was there any sort of apprehension or hesitation before you started working on brent iii? Did you think it might be difficult to try to recapture the same magic you had on the first two EPs?
Cutler: I had that.
Zucker: Really?
Cutler: Yeah, it would be a lie to say that I wasn't nervous because — not that I didn't wanna do it, like, of course I wanted to — I think that there is something so magic about it, and there's something kind of tricky about trying to capture that magic.
I guess it's not tricky for us. It comes really easily, so obviously we proved my theory wrong, but I just felt like the first two were so perfect. Like, perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about the experience and the songs.
So I was definitely nervous. Like, All right, if we're gonna do this, it has to blow us away. And I couldn't be more proud of the music that we made. It feels so right.
Zucker: Mhm. I would say like, the first project was an accident and it was a really beautiful accident. And then [with] brent ii, we were like, What if we really tried and intentionally did it? So we made a very polished, perfect brent ii. And then this time around, we were like, What's the angle? Why are we doing another one?
We didn't think it was going to be an album at first, but we were just like, third time's the charm. Let's do this once and wrap the whole thing together, basically. We wanted to kind of capture all the eras and have a good final chapter to it. Three is just a nice number. It ended up being an album and it seemed like a nice way to close the page — and have brent live as a thing that lives forever.
Cutler: Yeah, it's funny. I was apprehensive about it, then we ended up getting so many songs that felt so special and worthy of being on the product.
In the past, Chelsea, you've said that you were more hasty with your writing style — and then Jeremy, you said you're more meticulous. Do you feel like that's still true, or do you think your writing styles have changed more over time?
Zucker: I'm definitely pretty meticulous still. But it holds me back from being spontaneous and being able to come up with things freely without second guessing myself. So I remove being meticulous and like, don't give a f— and try to get as much on the page as possible. And then later, I comb through it. That's kind of what I've been doing lately.
Cutler: Yeah, I still feel like my creativity is really sporadic. If I don't catch the wave I'm on and just ride it, then I'm gonna lose it. Then I need to sit on my phone for 30 minutes until another one comes.
How do you think this has helped you in brent sessions? Or do you feel like it posed more of a challenge sometimes?
Cutler: I think it's really complementary.
Zucker: It was a learning process at times. It really only happened during brent ii where Chelsea and I had to take a beat at the end of the day. One day we were like, Let's just not make music today. It was like, really sad. [Laughs.] And I was basically really pushing Chelsea because when it comes to making music, I kind of have a full tank all the time, and my work ethic kicks into overdrive. And Chelsea, I think, was getting overwhelmed and needed space and less pressure.
Cutler: I just can't work like that. I'll do nothing all day, and then at 4:42, a random time of day, I'll just sit down and write a song. And it'll come out in 10 minutes and then I'm like, all right.
We're just so different, the way creativity flows out of us, which is really cool. I think that it does work really well because Jerm has an endurance that I don't necessarily have, and I think creativity hits me at kind of funny times, which sometimes if we're in a rut, that can inspire us.
Zucker: So, yeah, figuring out a process… where we each got the most out of each other was what helped put a key to the lock.
You first met at a UConn party that Jeremy was playing, right? And then got signed to the same label, Republic Records?
Zucker: Mhm.
What were your first impressions of each other?
Zucker: In real life, like, honestly, I was really drunk.
Cutler: We were both absolutely obliterated. I'd never been to a frat party before, so I was like, Ahhh!
Zucker: I don't know what happened to me. I was at a party, and then I was on stage, but it was so DIY in my career. Someone at the frat, that I'm actually still friends with today, messaged us — me and my friend Danny, and Ben, who I made a lot of music with at the time. He just paid us like 200 bucks and booked our flights.
I went to like a tiny school and this was like a massive outdoor frat party, and I was so overwhelmed in a fun way because I felt like a celebrity a little bit. But that was an older me, and I'm sure that was an older Chelsea.
Cutler: Yeah, man, I was wearing skinny jeans.
Zucker: Yeah, the pictures from that day are brutal. I was also wearing them.
They're coming back…
Cutler: I really hope they don't.
The first time you worked together resulted in your song "better off." How was that session for you guys? Were you like, "Wow, I just click with this person" right away?
Zucker: I was in this studio upstate, and we were chatting. I was like, "come up for a day, let's write a song" and then we just sat down. Chelsea, I remember we were hanging out, getting to know each other for an hour or so. And then when we sat down in front of a microphone and a computer, Chelsea starts playing a riff and I'm like, "what's that?" And she's like, "I don't know, I just made it up" and then I just pressed record and then we wrote the song. It was crazy.
Cutler: It came out really quick, too.
What was the song that came together the fastest on brent iii?
Zucker: "ashes & rust." We were in the studio for maybe like five hours and when we left it, the song was there. It just needed to be polished. But we left with like a five-part harmony on Chelsea's vocals and like crazy guitar tones and drums.
Cutler: It was awesome.
How would you describe your sound together?
Zucker: Folk pop? No, not, not pop. Folk singer/songwriter, acoustic… Let's use like Spotify Daylist terms.
Cutler: What?
Zucker: You know, like sometimes it'll be like, dreamy cottagecore, like… fantasy pop.
Cutler: Oh my God.
Zucker: So I would say, like, crunchy…
Cutler: Crunchy?
Zucker: … like crunchy granola, you know, like wholesome. But I would say warm, wholesome, indie folk.
Cutler: I think warm, cozy, honest, real.
Zucker: Sick.
Cutler: Dope.
Zucker: Swag.
Your friendship is so lovely. What are some standout memories with each other?
Zucker: I feel like you didn't have a good time blueberry picking?
Cutler: No, I had a great time doing it. I just didn't like eating the blueberries.
Zucker: Oh, right.
Cutler: I mean, I loved being in Big Bear together —
Zucker: — and crepes.
Cutler: Yeah, we went to a crepe coffee stand on the side of the road in Big Bear, California. And we were there in what, January? So it was really icy and cold, and it was just a stand so we waited outside in the cold for crepes for like, 20 minutes. [Laughs.]
Cutler: That was fun. And we watched Society of the Snow.
Zucker: And we also watched, what's that horror movie… Midsommar? Midsommar.
Cutler: One thing that we did that was really fun six years ago was — maybe not you, but — I smoked a lot of weed.
Zucker: Didn't we go swimming?
Cutler: I didn't go in, but I watched you guys. I was gonna say we put the 1975 Live From MSG or something. We watched on the big projector live… and we turned off all the lights and watched that.
Is there a standout memory from making brent iii?
Zucker: When we made one of our favorite songs "A-frame," the main instrument of that song is basically a guitar. I'm smacking the s— out of it so it's like, buzzing, and we recorded from the opposite end of an A-frame [cabin]. It's just this big massive reverb sound because the place was so echoey. That was kind of my favorite little tidbit, that "A-frame" was recorded in an A-frame.
Cutler: And it literally sounds like it. I think writing "and the government too!" because that was the first song that we wrote that we ended up using on the project. You could just feel when we wrote it that it was clicking, and the sonics of what brent iii was gonna be were kind of falling into place. You just get that feeling when we're writing a song and you know it's gonna be magical. Our cameraman was panning back and forth between us as we were kind of riffing. It was a really special moment.