Brady Talks New Solo Path With ‘Staring At The Ceiling,’ Writing His Debut Album & Love For Asian Pop

Brady’s first single comes after the former boy band/reality TV star has navigated the music industry and feels more confident in himself than ever—but that’s not the musical story he’s ready to tell just yet.

After scoring a spot in the group In Real Life created from the ABC reality show Boy Band, Brady (née Brady Tutton) spent his final teen years learning the music industry and finding his creative way. Even as the youngest member in the group, Brady had the wisdom and understanding to realize that a strong friendship between the five members wouldn’t trounce everyone’s individual working artistries. The Disney-backed band parted ways in January 2020.

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While most of Brady’s post-In Real Life career has been in COVID times, the now-20-year-old is stepping out as restrictions are easing around the world and inside Brady’s mind as well. The Midwestern-raised star says he feels more confident than ever, with a glimpse into the fight to get there documented in his debut solo single, “Staring at the Ceiling.” Backed by dark and sparse production, Brady’s tender vocals evolve through a smooth pop chorus (perfect to soundtrack a long contemplative drive) before closing out the song with disorienting electronica distortions as he laments the numbness from losing a lover (a universal theme the listener can take literally or use as a metaphor for losing oneself).

Both lyrically and sonically, “Staring at the Ceiling” has a sense of wandering and an unspoken need to find peace. As Brady’s first solo years saw him also wondering about his next steps, Brady has worked out the path to a debut full-length and wants listeners to join on the ride to it. Read about Brady’s solo ventures, upcoming music, his unexpected superstar songwriting placement and more.

Jeff Benjamin: Congratulations on the single! How are you feeling now that “Staring at the Ceiling” is finally out in the world?

Brady: In all honesty, it was really scary to put this first song out. I’m not sure why, because I love the song and am really proud of it, but it’s definitely kept me up more than a few nights. Since it’s been out, the response has been way beyond my expectations, couldn’t be happier. I’m not sure what’s happening, but whatever it is, I’m so grateful, and it makes me really excited to get more music out there. Despite all that, even if the song had tanked, being able to look up “brady” on Spotify and Apple and see my face and my song pop up, is worth more to me than anything—feels so good to know that I have something out there that I can listen to and show people.

Jeff Benjamin: How did you know this was the song to introduce yourself to the world?

Brady: I think in the past two years I noticed a major shift in how I view myself and the stuff I make—in a really positive way. I’ve started to become the version of myself I envisioned growing up and am definitely more confident than I have ever been. Even though these are all great things, it’s important for people to hear the music from a time when I was much more unsure of the way forward.

“Staring at the Ceiling” talks about the moments when you doubt yourself, and the way forward is cloudy. All you can do is keep walking, but you wonder if you should. The song, to me, reminds me of my most vulnerable times and worst mentalities, and listening to can be a much-needed reminder of how far I’ve come. I hope that when you listen to the song, you’re reminded of how normal those doubts are, and how important it is to keep moving despite them.

Jeff Benjamin: Take us through the creation process of “Staring at the Ceiling.” When and where did it come together?

Brady: I spent the first pandemic summer with my family in a lake town where we spent our childhood summers—although this time we stayed for much longer—and were unable to see people outside of the family because of quarantine. This wasn’t always ideal, as you can imagine, but it gave me time to sit and really think about what I wanted to put out into the world. I made a little studio in the furnace room with my mom, and my brother and I locked ourselves in there for eight or nine hours sometimes, just writing. We talked a lot about our past and what we wanted to say; sometimes full sentences from our conversations would make it into songs. We felt we needed a way to describe the loneliness and even sometimes guilt that can come with chasing your dream. You can be surrounded by supportive people, texting you and calling you, telling you they are so proud of you, but at the end of the day, you come home and you’re all alone.

I left traditional school at the end of freshman year and never went back. I was in a new city, chasing something that is such an abstract concept to most people; it can be hard to talk about. I thought the concept of “Staring at the Ceiling” was the perfect way to portray the moments when you are going through these emotions and trying to process them.

Jeff Benjamin: You wrote “Staring at the Ceiling” with your brother Ryan, but do you have a preference on writing music solo or with collaborators?

Brady: “Staring at the Ceiling” was actually the first song we wrote during that summer in Michigan. Because he’s my brother, we have no problem telling each other if we don’t like something, which is nice because you end up with a much better end product that way. Ryan is great to work with because we go about writing very differently, but often come to the same conclusions. This was a special song for us to work on together. We found it very therapeutic to be able to talk through how our journeys so far had left us feeling, and we came out with something beautiful after the fact.

Although I have done some here and there, Ryan and others sometime joke that I don’t do sessions—which is partially true. I think when I am in my room by myself and can make the melodies or concepts with no outside input, I get the stuff I like the most, and then I’ll either finish it with others or continue by myself. That wasn’t the case for this first song but has become more and more of my process.

Learning to produce has also been super helpful to me. In the past, there were a lot of times I’d make a song with a full track, but because it hadn’t been professionally mixed, I thought I had to get other producers involved to make it sound better. Usually, we would end up using most of my original beat, and the producers would take on more of a mixing role, so I eventually realized that I could produce a lot of things myself and just get a mixer involved after the song was done.

Jeff Benjamin: I know Ryan has written and produced with many other artists too. Is there a difference between your dynamic as creatives and as brothers?

Brady: We definitely listen to very different music and have had very different life experiences, so it’s really cool to see how our two backgrounds can come together to make something we both love. I think having Ryan to write with is super helpful because when I write for myself, I tend to overthink some of the aspects of the music, like if it represents who I am, what I’m trying to say, or if my favorite artists would like it; I’d imagine he is thinking more if the song is enjoyable to listen to, which I sometimes forget is also important.

Jeff Benjamin: Is this first song the beginning of more music coming from you? Is anything like an album planned at this point?

Brady: I have known what my first album would be called long before the songs on it were decided. There are still some songs being created and changed, but before any of them were solidified, I knew the album would be called We’re All Gonna Die Anyway.

I think it’s the perfect representation of how I think about life and has helped me so much in times of indecisiveness. Scared to put out music? We’re all gonna die, who cares. Put it out. At the end of the day, our time here is so finite, and our understanding of why and how we got here is so limited. I think we should all focus more on doing things we enjoy and making things others can enjoy. Death is such a scary thing to so many people because it’s one of the only things that is for sure. One of the goals of the album is to try and show how, if you’re able to live a life you love and makes you excited, the idea of death becomes much less scary. For that reason, a lot of the songs on the album have death-related themes or can be interpreted that way, but the message is often meant to be more positive. I plan to drop around three singles and then if I feel it is the right time, the album, which is basically written. A lot of the songs feel like they are in a similar world sonically, even though they came together in such different ways; I think that is a sign that an artist is finding their sound organically.

Jeff Benjamin: I love that, I think the message is something a lot of people need to hear these days too. What do you think you’re showing as Brady now that you couldn’t show during your time In Real Life?

Brady: I’ve always made an effort to be authentic but I feel much more settled into who I am, if that makes sense. Everything happened so fast with the transition from the reality show, to the band, to touring, it was hard to have the time or mental capacity to think about things, like how I wanted to represent myself and what that would look like. There are always going to be things I look back on and think a little too long about, but I try to remember I was very young and doing the best I could at the time.

Jeff Benjamin: Do you share your music with the IRL guys? Have they shared any feedback? Or do they ask your opinions on their projects?

Brady: I talk to Sergio [Calderon] at least a few times a week. We have stayed super close throughout the years, just like we were in the band. I send him all my stuff, and he sends me everything he’s working on. I love talking to Sergio because we are opposites in many ways. He has a very optimistic and positive outlook on everything, which is so refreshing to me and can help me to get out of my head. I think I will produce or write a song for his next project which I’m really excited about. When we were still in the band, we used to write sometimes on our days off and it was always very easy for us to work together. We were just listening back the other day and realized that some of the ideas still hold up. I also see Chance [Perez] from time to time and it’s always really great, I love that dude. It’s one of those things where we’re so close that even if we don’t see each other for a while, it’s right back to the old days when we do. I think being a Power Ranger is such a cool and perfect fit for him; so happy that worked out the way it did. The other guys I talk to less for sure but when I do, we have good talks and catch up.

Jeff Benjamin: How do you look back at the time with In Real Life?

Brady: I think that’s something that has changed a lot over the past three years. To be honest, when I first left, I was so grateful to be free to do and make whatever I wanted. I had a vision for who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to create, and it felt so out of reach in that situation. The reality is, if a boy band isn’t massively successful, it’s really really hard to make it cool. For example, One Direction was one of the most fly boy bands of all time, but five guys at Madison Square Garden with incredible production value look much better than five guys at a mall with two mics that work.

During In Real Life, we performed in every situation you can imagine, from shows with 60,000-plus people, to shows with three people and malfunctioning equipment. It was very important to me that we gave great performances and didn’t look like amateurs, so when there was poor communication, bad quality, or extraneous money being spent, it was very frustrating. It’s taken me some time to realize it, but I am endlessly grateful for having the opportunity to learn the things I did. You don’t know what can possibly go wrong until it does.

Despite the many amazing opportunities we had, some of the most memorable and impactful times we had as a group was when we were just hanging out as friends. Some of my favorite memories are from times when it was just us in a small town in the middle of nowhere, enjoying each other’s company and exploring. We were all so different in almost every way. I grew so much in that time as a person.

Jeff Benjamin: Were you given many chances to write and produce in In Real Life?

Brady: Unfortunately, we had very little creative input on what we released. None of us had experience songwriting, and I had really just started producing, so it was understandable when the label didn’t want to put a ton of money behind our development in that way, but I think we all really wanted the chance to try. It was really eye-opening when we finally parted ways with the label; the first day we were able to write was the day we realized we needed to break up. The creative differences were so blaring it was hard to see how it could ever work. In Real Life, as a whole, was a really unique situation because most bands get together because of friendships and/or love of making music together. We were put together. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that it wasn’t easy to make music together.

Jeff Benjamin: A really cool fact I learned was that you helped produce and compose the song “Blue” by K-pop star Kai. Can you share the story of how that song came together? How did it make its way to Korea to have Korean collaborators and how do you think Kai did with the song?

Brady: So, I actually wrote “Blue” for myself, with the same producers that did my first single, and it was originally called “Every Night Luv.” The song sat on a hard drive for a few weeks as so many do, unfortunately, until one day, I got an email that Kai wanted to record it. To be honest, I’m very unfamiliar with the K-pop world, so when I got the email I wasn’t sure who he was, but I was very honored to have the opportunity to write for someone else, especially in another country.

Eventually, it was explained to me that he is one of the most famous singers in South Korea, and was part of a massive group called EXO. I knew how big EXO was from having some crossover on social media so that immediately got me super excited to get the song sounding great for him. Writing for K-pop is really interesting because a lot of times they change the words entirely, and just keep the rhyme scheme and melodies. “Blue” sounded identical to the original but when I looked up the translated lyrics, I realized the concept was very different.

Kai and I, in a lot of ways, have a similar style, so I was really happy with how his version of the song sounded. We went back and forth for a few weeks trying different ad-libs, adding a bridge, and changing the flow of some melodies. It was really special to record an ad-lib in my little makeshift studio in Michigan, and a few hours later, hear him sing it from the other side of the world. I still listen to the final record all the time. So, in conclusion, Kai is dope. I’m a huge fan now.

Jeff Benjamin: Have you checked out any other K-pop or Korean artists? Anyone else you’d like to collaborate with or write for one day?

Brady: I really like BLACKPINK, I love their music and how polished their performances are while still feeling authentic. They interview on my friend JoJo Wright’s show often, and they seem like really nice, genuine people. Another one is obviously BTS. I had the opportunity to meet them at an award show a few years back when I was in the band, and despite the number of people fighting for their attention, they took the time to shake each of our hands and talk to us. I remember their captain [RM] did most of the talking because of the language barrier, but they all seemed very nice.

I listen to a ton of Japanese city pop from the ’70s and ’80s, so it would be really cool to get a feature or work with one of the legends like Kiyotaka Sugiyama or Yuri Tanaka.

Jeff Benjamin: What else is coming up for you? What else do we need to know now?

Brady: This year I’m focusing a lot on releasing music and getting stuff out there, but there have been some shows planned for later this year I’m really excited about and starting to prepare for. I’ve got records done recently that I feel really confident about and I think people will love. I’m really excited to see the fans again. More than anything else, I miss the fans and performing for them, so I look forward to getting back out there and doing shows again.