Creator/Musician/Songwriter - Eleanor Berntsen

My name is Eleanor Brentsen

and I am a creator,
musician and songwriter.

I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa,
for the most part.

And as a child,
I was a serial hobbyist.

I just bounced
from one thing to the next,

and they were always creative
hobbies.

I was 11 years old
when I wrote my first song.

My mom took me to a Taylor Swift
concert for my birthday.

Seeing her
perform was not something

that I had ever witnessed
before.

Just general performance
like that, where it's a show,

they're there to entertain.

They're there to,

you know, not just sing for you,
but to tell you a story.

I mean,
within the time of watching

that two hour performance,

I think the trajectory of
my life was completely changed.

And that was what I knew
I wanted to do.

I started performing
when I was 12.

I started performing
as Eleanor Grace when I was 14.

So sixth to eighth grade were

some incredibly
challenging years for me.

I think my best advice
when things don't go

your way or things are stagnant
or there's, you know,

a little push and pull is
could be good luck.

Could be bad luck.

You never know
whatever situation you're in,

what that's going to do for you
later on.

I am 19 years old now

and music is my number one
priority still.

I'm also a student
at Berklee School of Music

Online.

Performing is

my favorite thing
about being a musician.

It's like a form of enrichment,
you know?

You read about things
to put yourself

in a different character.

You are trying to figure out
how to put yourself in the mind

of another person,
or you're just

sitting in your emotions
and you're figuring out,

How do I feel about this?

When I started

making music,
I define myself as indie pop

and the first song I ever
released was called Lighthouse

when I was 15 years old.

And it's gone on to now

reach over
a million streams on Spotify,

which I think is
a crazy achievement

and something
that I'm very proud of.

I actually missed
my first homecoming dance

because I was in this studio
recording Lighthouse all day.

I think it was worth it, though.

I decided to record
another version of Lighthouse

just to say
Thank you for listening.

Thank you for supporting
that song.

I am ready to go.

So I had a gut feeling that

this version of Lighthouse
was supposed to be recorded

at Golden Bear Studios
with Brian Vanderpool.

It was done within 5 hours,
which and I was like,

is incredibly fast
to record a song.

And we started working on

another demo immediately after

and it just kind of snowballed
into a whole record.

Some of the songs
that we ended up recording were

Dream About a Cowboy.
There's a song called Outlaw.

That was the first real country
song that I wrote,

and I kept bringing these songs
to Brian, and he kept saying,

I think we have a country record
here.

I think we can make
a country record.

And at first
I kind of thought he was

crazy for saying that.

I was like, I'm
an indie pop artist.

I'm a pop artist.
I don't know about country.

We decided that
this is the direction to go.

Something that I think

I've gotten better with not only
in my songwriting, but also in

just being in the studio
and recording, is being able

to say exactly
what I want and what I mean.

And I think it's

beautiful how we all can find

common ground with words
through songs and lyrics.

And I'm honored

that I get to have a life path
or that's something that I do.

What can I do for myself
and what can I end up doing for

others with my music
is my greatest inspiration

and motivation.