JEREMY ZUCKER & CHELSEA CUTLER: CREATING MAGIC THROUGH MUSIC
Photo courtesy of Universal Music Group
By Ashley Duong
On a freezing January night, singer-songwriter duo Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler found comfort inside a warm California cabin overlooking Big Bear Lake. Chelsea was writing lyrics on the couch while Jeremy sat on the floor, softly playing guitar and recording a voice memo, all while “Society of the Snow” and “Midsommer” played through a projector with the sound muted. Their six-year-long friendship meant that a musical collaboration didn’t look like clocking into the studio. Rather, they seamlessly intertwined creating art with living life.
“We always kind of sit in the studio and say we want the record to feel like a cozy, safe place for people,” said Chelsea. “And I really do think that’s born out of … us being friends and building this world that feels like friendship for a lot of other people.”
The blurred lines between friendship and professional craftsmanship are a recurring theme within songwriting—but for Jeremy and Chelsea, the blending of the two leads them to their favorite memories and musical creations, including “and the government too!” off of their third project and first full-length album, “brent iii.” The song came from one friend trying to support another.
“It came from us having an honest conversation about what Jeremy was going through,” said Chelsea.
In a cathartic way, Jeremy admitted to Chelsea that he “would scream at the stars for keeping us apart.” He paused, laughed, and joked, “And the government, too!” In that moment of vulnerability, support, and hopeful humor, Jeremy and Chelsea knew they had a song perfect for “brent iii.”
Although this conversation was forever memorialized in their album, other moments stayed as shared memories within the brent universe. One of Chelsea’s favorite memories was when “we stood on the side of the road and got crepes from a tin hut… and it was 10 degrees.”
Jeremy and Chelsea met at a University of Connecticut fraternity party, a random yet fateful event after being friends over SoundCloud. A few months later, that moment led to a musical session in a Connecticut carriage house studio where they created and released “better off” in 2018. They returned to the same studio to create what’s known as the start of their musical journey and their first EP, “brent” which has the now certified platinum song, “you were good to me,” a song that solidified that the duo had something special together.
“We’ll never make a song as good as that ever again… I’m just kidding! Maybe we will. Who knows!” said Jeremy.
Fast forward to six years later, they chose to try something different. Instead of returning to the Connecticut cabin, they brought the project to the other side of the country—to a cabin on Big Bear Lake. This trip, however, was easier said than done, and it took several false starts and coordination to get here.
“It’s hard to find a year in two artists’ calendars to devote to one project, but we got there,” said Chelsea.
Once they arrived at the cabin, they found themselves back in a familiar songwriting routine, one Jeremy describes as a “race against the magic disappearing.” Yet, this race against the clock didn’t phase the duo. Rather, they used it to their advantage, ending the album with the song “good things” for that very reason—fleeting moments.
“‘good things’ was the perfect way to wrap up the project as well because the song is about how things can’t last forever and there’s magic in things being finite,” said Chelsea.
Their music creation process is fueled by their different individual lives, blending to fit into their collective universe. In some ways, that means individual songs written separately appearing on “brent iii,” like the pair’s solo songs, “love you into loving me” and “toothbrush song.” Other times, it means their differing genres and specialties melding together.
“That’s what’s exciting—being able to dip into different spaces, feelings, and genres, and experimenting with instruments that wouldn’t have experimented with if we weren’t working together and challenged by each other’s different musical tastes and upbringing,” said Jeremy.
Outside of their musicality, something else makes their creative process special: friendship. Their tight-knit bond provides reassurance and trust in each other, allowing them to motivate each other while staying considerate of each other’s feelings.
“I think collaborating with your friend is particularly challenging and beautiful because you’re able to push each other to get the best out of each other,” said Chelsea. “I’ve learned everything about collaboration and teamwork from spending the last six years doing this together.”
Their collaboration is a mutual learning process. Chelsea raves about Jeremy’s talents in music production, a skill she attempts to pick up by sneakily recording Jeremy in the studio.
“Jeremy is so talented in creating these sonic palettes and textures that really put you into the world,” said Chelsea.
On the other end, Jeremy admires Chelsea’s ability to be “spontaneously creative” and how she’ll run off during rehearsal and return 15 minutes later with a brand new song. He reflects on his own creative process and how he limits himself by putting walls up during his songwriting.
“Chelsea has taught me to shut down that part of my brain when I’m creating,” said Jeremy.
Yet after three collaborations, one joint tour, and six years, the ever-changing nature of their musical partnership sustains the magic within the brent universe, pushing the pair to continue growing within their shared musical journey. Jeremy explains that the main difference between “brent” and “brent iii” is its lyrical complexity, one that develops due to personal growth and lived experience.
“The older you get, the more complex your emotions get and the less singular they get,” said Jeremy. “Writing simple songs that were powerful for that reason, and now it’s a bit more nuanced, a little bit more specific, and honest in a different way.”
While the future of brent is uncertain, their friendship is an undeniable constant, “It would be hard to envision us going the rest of our careers without working together in some capacity,” said Chelsea. “We’ll always want to be a part of each other’s careers, whether it’s some sort of collaboration or working on each other’s individual stuff…life is long, and who knows what will happen.”
After releasing “brent iii,” the duo embarked on a 13-show tour titled “Brent Forever: The Tour,” their first joint tour with sold-out nights across North America. While the tour ended on December 8th, Jeremy and Chelsea’s years of personal and musical growth will remain memorialized forever within “brent iii,” an album that marks the infinite nature of the magical brent universe.
“brent iii” is out for streaming now on all streaming platforms.