An Okotoks musician is releasing her first single of 2023.
Boys’ Night by singer/songwriter Brettyn Rose hits streaming services January 13.
“One of my co-writers had brought in the title 'Boys' Night’ to a write,” Rose said. “It was a write with all girls, so I feel like we could all relate somewhat to wondering how a guy you’re seeing might talk about you to his buddies.
“It’s about the hope that you mean enough to him to not be talked about like any other girl at boys’ night.”
While recording the song, Rose and her producer Matty McKay approached a fork in the road.
“The song was originally written more in the main (pop-country) version, that sort of vibe,” Rose said. “But then when I brought it to my producer, he had this idea to make it more like a classic country, slow, moody sort of vibe.
“I thought it sounded so cool, and so we went with that version and cut the bed tracks, then maybe six months later I said to Matty, ‘Maybe we should try doing it the other way, like I loved this one but let’s see just for fun.’”
They went down the other path and were equally pleased with the more pop-leaning sound, including McKay delivering a guitar solo.
“We tried that and both loved it,” Rose said. “It was a kind of challenge to think of the same song in a totally different way, so Matty was excited to reimagine the song and we ended up loving both.
“We decided to stick with both of them and release one and then release the other as an alternate version.”
While it is by definition a single, one version is a contemporary pop-country track fitting for a night out, the other a slower classic country rendition for when the night out's off and the sweatpants come out.
Just as the song evolved, so have her skills as an artist, having crafted releases since she was 15.
“I was so young, just as a person, so I was definitely figuring out just who I was,” Rose said. “I think some of that is just natural progression of growing up, and in my early 20s now it seems like so long ago.”
Like anyone, taste in music evolved along the way.
“I think it was just honestly discovering what music I like to listen to,” Rose said.
“I listened to a bunch of different genres and gravitated towards country and Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, all of those strong females in country, then that naturally shifted into my writing.
“It’s still going to continue to change, but I’m very happy and very proud of the new direction and how far I’ve come.”
On the technical side, like many artists, Rose had ample time during the pandemic to work on her craft.
“A big shift in my sound happened over COVID when there were no shows and nothing else for musicians to do,” she said. “Everyone was writing songs like crazy and I met a couple core people who I loved writing with.
“I got to connect with artists all over the country that I never thought I would write with – people from Vancouver, Ontario, Montreal and all these cool places where we would have never connected over Zoom if it wasn’t for the pandemic.”
McKay is among those new collaborators Rose credits for helping elevate her craft.
“I feel like Matty has been such a great guide and mentor for me to push my sound creatively and pushed me into new ideas like the alternate version for Boys’ Night – something I would have never thought of on my own but I really love,” Rose said, adding the tracks drop simultaneously.
“I’m kind of curious to see which one people gravitate towards now, because I love them both, probably equally so.”
Boys’ Night and other works by Rose can be found at https://linktr.ee/brettynrose and on most major streaming services, including Spotify, Tidal and YouTube/Google Music.
