Winner of ‘The Voice’ lifts heartache ‘OUT OF THE BLUE’ in debut album
Brynn Cartelli’s mother used to take her to the ballet whenever there was a performance near her hometown of Longmeadow. Cartelli admired the ballerinas’ elegant tutus and delicate movements and lines, but also took note of their underlying power and control.
“If you were close enough, you [could] see just how strong and tough they were. It’s really difficult, and I didn’t know that until I was 8 or 9 years old,” said Cartelli. “I was just so amazed by how much strength it took to look so delicate and effortless.”
When she moved from Massachusetts to New York City for college, she found a through line between ballet and her life: She was reflecting on who she was, who she wanted to be in this new environment, and the strength it takes to seemingly effortlessly transition into adulthood.
The 20-year-old singer-songwriter’s debut album, “OUT OF THE BLUE,” releases on March 1, drawing on these ideas as well as the complexities of young love. And she donned her own tutu and sparkling ballet slippers on her album cover.
Cartelli gained significant recognition at 15 years old when she won “The Voice” in 2018, becoming the youngest winner in the show’s history. As a result, she toured with her coach and mentor Kelly Clarkson and Kelsea Ballerini, and released her first EP, “Based on a True Story,” in 2021.
She described her music as “fun, ambient-inspired pop with singer-songwriter flair.”
On Jan. 19, Cartelli released the first single off her new album, “Boy From Home,” which documents the torn feeling of loving a new city but missing someone from home.
“I was really excited to come [to New York] to get away from a certain relationship that was not serving me anymore for many reasons. And I got here, and it didn’t just go away in my brain like I thought it would, and I felt really angry about it for a really long time,” said Cartelli. “I was so frustrated with everything that I couldn’t let go of that; ‘Boy From Home’ just kind of spilled out.”
The single is also an examination of a new chapter in Cartelli’s life, in which she comes to terms with loving Longmeadow but knows it isn’t the place for her anymore.
“I will always be a Massachusetts girl. I love it more than anything,” said Cartelli. “There are certain corners of my hometown that definitely feel a bit haunted. But I was learning throughout this process how to hold these memories with a lot of love instead of feeling angry. I’m definitely there now. ”
Cartelli directed her “Boy From Home” music video with Martín Blanco, featuring Cartelli sitting in a tutu on the floor among the remnants of a party in New York with her memories of a boy projected onto her bare back.
“It’s a metaphor for us carrying these memories with us every day and how they weigh us down,” she said. “The projection on the back was a really fun moment to think about [how] everyone’s got this past and everyone’s coming from somewhere or somebody that they don’t know anymore.”
“OUT OF THE BLUE” isn’t all heartache and sadness. “Watching My Friends Fall in Love” documents the sweet moment when Cartelli caught her friend developing feelings for someone on a weekend trip to Dennis during her senior year of high school.
But her favorite of the songs she’s produced so far is “The Blue,” a track about a relationship seemingly ending out of the blue that inspired the album title.
“If I’m having a tough time, I’ll be walking around the city, and I put on ‘The Blue,’ and I reset every time I listen to it because I’m like, ‘I’m gonna be OK. At least I wrote ‘The Blue’ if all else fails,’” she said. “I feel like that song is really for me.”