Will Brown has turned his pain into a postcode, and you’re invited

Roisin Teeling: How do your mornings usually start?

Will Brown: Every morning starts with cardio and that’s my cup of coffee. I’ll listen to music, start getting ideas and prepare for the day. I’m a routine type of guy, and over the past few years it’s become essential. I call them ‘meditation walks’ and that’s when I zone out from the world, work through things and start building songs or storylines.

Roisin Teeling: At what point did you decide to look beyond the Church?

Will Brown: I’ve always wanted to be a singer. Even when I was younger, I was drawn to pop and R&B. I became a praise and worship leader at 16, and I just knew the gift I had was bigger than the Church. Not that I was better than it, but the messages I wanted to convey felt bigger than those four walls. It wasn’t until about six years ago that I hit one of my lowest points and realised I’d been masking for a long time being someone I knew I wasn’t. I was doing it because I didn’t want to let my family down or walk away from the Ministry, but deep down I knew I had a calling and I wanted to share my gift with the world. I realised I couldn’t keep living for other people. I had to live for myself to be happy, to walk in my truth and become the best version of myself. I was in this house I’d bought, one of my dream homes, and I still wasn’t happy. That’s when I knew something had to change. The next day, I went to work and asked my boss if I could transfer to LA. It all happened so quickly. That lowest moment led me to write one of the songs on my EP, ‘I Found You’. That was me finding the person I’d been looking for.

Roisin Teeling: Did you write in fragments while you were experiencing those feelings, or did the songs emerge later once you’d had time to reflect?

Will Brown: It was upon reflection. I’d always write little bits and pieces, but it wasn’t until I came out of that situation [that] I could take a bird’s-eye view of everything — that the pieces started to come together. When I began seriously writing the lyrics, I remember thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going through this right now’. But then, when I was in a difficult moment, those lyrics or that melody would come back to me. It helped me understand how to navigate that space, and gave me hope that I’d come out the other side. That’s also when I created Brownsville, because that space felt magical, and it was so inspiring, and I wanted to stay in it. Now, with the EP, I get to invite other people into that world, too.

Roisin Teeling: You’ve mentioned that your exposure to music outside the Church was limited. How did that affect you?

Will Brown: We weren’t allowed to listen to what we called ‘worldly’ music growing up. Whenever my parents would leave, we’d sneak and watch MTV. Eventually, my mom had a Whitney Houston cassette, and one of the first CDs I bought was Donny Hathaway. I learned ‘A Song for You’. I felt like I was really behind when it came to pop and R&B artists because I was so immersed in gospel — that’s all I knew. It wasn’t until later in life that I really started exploring the pop side of music. That’s when I realised I could take the soul of gospel and merge it with the sound of pop, and create what I’m doing now, which is pop-soul.

Roisin Teeling: Brownsville comes across like a real place. How do you visualise it?

Will Brown: When I created Brownsville in 2008, I envisioned this town — not a perfect town, but a place full of flawed individuals. We were loving each other, helping each other out, uplifting each other. But then, sonically, the music they would hear is always uplifting, always hopeful and always addressing things — looking our issues in the face and finally dealing with them, rather than pushing them under the rug. Finally facing your fears, and giving heartbreak a sound — giving being upset about something a sound. I envision this whole, hopeful life music, giving hope, anger, frustration, but turning it into something positive. Brownsville is this town full of beautiful people, and the sounds are incredible, uplifting songs. Sometimes it’s songs that make you sit, think, maybe cry, but you have the strength to get through whatever you’re going through in that moment.

Roisin Teeling: Exploring the world of Brownsville and the build-up to releasing this music, what would you want someone to take away after stepping into this world?

Will Brown: I would want them to take away that they are enough. Never let your circumstance or your heartbreak, or anything you’ve gone through define who you are now. And never allow that to keep you from growing. Always remember that, even though you’re in a difficult moment in your life, it won’t always be dark. The sun has to come out eventually if you keep pressing. I have a tattoo with one of my favourite quotes: “The only way out is through.” You can’t keep running from your problems. You have to go through it and it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be nice, it’s going to be hard. But it’s about facing those fears, facing those hardships, so you can see and know who you really are on the inside, and your own strength. So you can come out of whatever you’re in stronger, better and as a completely new person.