Kylie Fox “Brandi Baby”
Americana Highways brings you this video premiere of Kylie Fox’s new song “Brandi Baby” from her forthcoming album Sequoia, which is slated for release on September 13. The song will be released on June 21. Sequoia was recorded and produced by Daniel Ledwell, and mastered at Archive Mastering by J. LaPointe.
“Brandi Baby” is Kylie Fox on vocals; Sean Hutchins on lead guitar; Camilo Villamizar on bass; Kelly Waterhouse on keys and saxophone; Ryan Barrie on drums; and Daniel Ledwell on trumpet.
This video was director by Jillian Acreman and filmed by Jesse Anthony, with special thanks to the wrestlers at Capital City Wrestling. We had a brief chat with Kylie Fox about the song. The video appears just beneath this interview.
Americana Highways: Can you tell us what inspired you to write this song and what it’s about?
Kylie Fox: “Brandi Baby” is about meeting my fiance and drummer, Ryan Barrie, at a music festival and having my world rocked. As a touring musician on the road a lot, I never felt like my schedule could allow for a relationship. My “ambition makes me lonely,” and I was a bit of an enigma, working through a tough exterior developed from mean girls in high school. The relationship with Ryan softened me and taught me how to reciprocate love and let myself be taken care of. The first line of the song was originally, and hilariously, “Let me pick your scabs.” Although the line quickly got edited out, it’s touching on the type of love where all humanness, all vulnerability, is on the table.
I love Brandi Carlile and listened to her every day as I got ready for high school. Her song “The Story” was the first song Ryan and I slow-danced to in his living room. Since writing and recording the song, we have gotten engaged, and are using “The Story” as our first dance. This song predicted the future!
Also I should mention my tramp stamp. My first solo tour in 2018, I drove my grandfather’s old Lexus, which I inherited, so I called the tour “Grampy’s Lexus Tour.” I had such a great time that I got the Lexus logo tattooed on my lower back. Last winter, I was touring and had to sell the car for parts outside Halifax. Not to fear though, I have acquired a new Lexus… have to stay on-brand.
AH: What kind of a vibe were you going for on this song? How does the final version differ from what you imagined it might be before you went into the studio?
KF: I wanted “Brandi Baby” to be grand and anthemic, to sound like a vibey heartbeat, to sound ethereal and coming-of-age, similar to a Sharon Van Etten song. The song came together exactly how I envisioned it in studio, with layered harmonies, big drums, arpeggiators, and space.
AH: What do you hope listeners get from hearing the song?
KF: First, I hope the music is fun and catchy and adds to someone’s day, whether in the car or cooking dinner. I hope the song inspires reflection and nostalgia. Relationships teach us a lot about ourselves, and how to show love. The song is a bit of my own montage through life and the before and after a life-changing love. Maybe listeners will play their own montages in their head, and think of the simple and kind ways their partners support them and make them feel safe.
AH: What kind of reaction has the song gotten from audiences when you play this song live?
KF: Lately, we open the set with this song. The drum intro provides a nice opportunity for me to start singing the song from offstage and make a slow and dramatic entrance. We love the drama. It’s a good, high place to start a set.
AH: How does this song fit in among the others on the album? How does it stand out as different?
KF: Musically, the album Sequoia explores many different “vibes,” fusing folk storytelling with jazzy bops evocative of ’70s “Sesame Street.” “Brandi Baby” stands out as one of two rock songs on the album. Thematically, this record is about gratitude, and it was written during the time when I was beginning a new relationship and learning how to care for someone else, and fit them into my world.
AH: Tell us about the video. Got any stories about the video shoot?
KF: Amateur wrestling is all the rage in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I thought it would be a fun concept to shoot the video at a wrestling match. I could say that it’s representative of my tough-girl aesthetic, or that wrestling nicely juxtaposes with loving me “gingerly and tenderly,” but ultimately I thought it would be cool, and I’ve never seen it done before. It was directed by Jillian Acreman, and we had a ball intersecting with the wrestlers.
AH: What’s next for Kylie Fox?
KF: “Sequoia” is set to release on September 13, 2024. We are preceding the release with two more single and music video releases dropping throughout the summer. I’m making several appearances at music festivals throughout the East Coast of Canada, and my team is hoping to have a release tour in the works soon. Lately, I’ve been glued to my piano, learning all of Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark album for a 50th anniversary tribute concert as part of Harvest Music Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Thanks very much for chatting with us, Kylie.
Set in a wrestling match, Kylie sings her song in low tenor tones about finding the one to learn to let her guard down with: “I used to lean my tramp stamp up against the bar / Now I’m a teacup in your arms / You love me / So gingerly / Tenderly baby / Count my freckles, water my plants / Put on some Brandi baby, do you want to dance.” She has a knack for expressing vulnerability wrapped in a bit of a tough guy exterior, and it comes through in this song especially.
Find the music here: https://ffm.to/brandibaby
What a great tune in a wonderful package, Kylie. Yippee!