Today we’d like to introduce you to Rising Star Brandon Edralin.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started singing when I was 2 years old. My dad would play Toby Keith songs and I knew the words to each song word for word in the back of the car. Music has been my first love since I was small and definitely my first language because I enjoyed it so much. My dad was the one who brought me into country music he would bring me to country concerts every week and we’d always have meet-and-greet passes. I met a lot of people in the country industry when I was young and looked up to like Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, Trace Adkins, Little Big Town, etc. At every concert, I would sing my little heart out when I knew every word of the song. I knew from the start that’s something I wanted to do as a kid cause it looked so cool to me.
My parents said I couldn’t make it in the music industry when I was like 10 years old because they said there were so many people in the world that do it so I couldn’t have a chance and think about something I wanted to do once I got to college. I understood though just cause I didn’t say much just because of how shy I was in Middle School and High School. I got bullied because I didn’t say much in school and the bullies in school always said I wouldn’t be anything, especially in my Junior year in High School. So I did sports in High School and made the baseball team for 3 years and didn’t make it senior year. I always thought I was good and would make it to college but I didn’t. I also skateboarded for quite a few years as well but always got injured even though I was good at it going to skate parks and making friends that way, I still never said much because of how shy I was even though I would sing every time I went home from school.
I would always get bullied in High School and never had friends so I would go to the library during lunch or breaks and write journals or poems in my notebook or if I wasn’t allowed in the library during lunch I would sit on the hill listening to music I related too while writing a journal about how I felt in school or a poem about what’s happening around me. After I graduated High School in Kuna, Idaho in 2019, I did the same thing in college and wrote journals about life and how I felt each day. Until the pandemic hit in 2020 I took singing more seriously and did songwriting cause I loved music so much. Also, wasn’t much to do because covid and lockdown/quarantine happened and I did online school for a bit but it was exhausting so I took a break from it. I would definitely go back to college though cause I passed every class I took. I moved to Nashville after the first semester of 2020 to get into music more seriously and songwriting. I traveled back and forth from Idaho because my family lives down there to Nashville by myself to do music.
That’s when I started actually doing songwriting instead of the little journals and poems, but I downloaded Tiktok and started doing covers on there of songs by Kane Brown, Randy Travis, Andrew Jannakos, etc. that are in the country industry. My covers started doing good because everyone loved my voice saying I sound like Kane Brown who is someone I looked up to because I related to him a lot cause he went through what I went through with bullying and racism. Then I gained up to 50K followers but Tiktok decided to take my account down for no reason, but I wasn’t gonna let that stop me so I made a new account and that did well too. Kane started recognizing me on social media a lot besides Tiktok it was on Instagram and Twitter too it just felt unreal to me cause he would comment on a few of my posts and I would kinda scream because he was one of the people I looked up too when I first discovered him on his Facebook and Youtube days doing covers and in High School I would listen to his song “learning” a couple of times a day cause it was relatable with what I went through. Then I started playing Call of Duty a couple of times a day with him and he would know my name or the nickname I went by which was “B’ or “BE” because of the initials of my name.
I kept doing the whole Tiktok thing and it started gaining engagement from other artists I looked up to like Andrew Jannakos, Michael Warren, Restless Road, Avery Anna, Chase Matthew, Kane Brown, and so many other artists I listened to and looked up to and I started freaking out because I couldn’t believe it, but they were verified and some of them started following me on social media. Also, a lot of people were liking the content I put out with the covers I did so that went well but wasn’t gaining much like the last account. I was freaking out when everything happened and couldn’t believe it, but I was super grateful for the following and growth of everything. I didn’t tell my parents about it because I felt like it would keep them from stopping me from doing what I like to do which is sing. Nobody knew I started singing until I started posting it on my Instagram. Everyone was liking how my voice sounded when I sang so most of them were saying I just put out a song. So I went to Nashville with the whole songwriting thing as I said before because I didn’t know how to put a chorus and how to flow out a song to make it sound good.
I am currently living in Idaho & working in both Nashville and Boise with some of my favorite artists. I am still constantly keeping myself busy with music and passionately trying to get music out there for the people that want it and make them feel something or relate too.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was definitely a rough road I can say that for sure, just because of the whole bullying thing I was at the lowest point of my life during school, and people saying I wouldn’t be anything once I graduated High school because I was always quiet. Also, it was a struggle trying to write music on my own when I was in Idaho because I didn’t know how to flow out the words, put a chorus/hook, and everything together to make a full song so it can sound good.
Another struggle was I didn’t know how to play an instrument during quarantine/lockdown besides the drums since I played that when I was in the Middle School band. So it was hard reaching out to producers in Nashville because they wanted to know what it would sound acoustic and get a good hear of what it would sound of it. I couldn’t play any instrument besides doing a voice memo of what the vocals would sound like. So it was reaching out to producers when I wanted to record songs I wrote. I then bought my own guitar and piano so I had to learn all alone and piece everything out with the songs I wrote to make it sound good, it was hard but each day I was gradually getting good at it to make it to the point I can get a song produced and recorded.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a singer/songwriter also influencer from Nashville. I am known for my voice when I sing and my songwriting. What I am proud of the most is definitely social media because it’s helped me gain friends from the music industry in Nashville that’s helped me write songs when I had no clue what I was doing. Also, they’re all super supportive of me so I’m glad social media has changed lives for artists like us so we can do what we love.
They also helped me with finding producers too as well when I needed one when I couldn’t find any that would fit the sound of the songs I wrote and needed to record to put out for the people who want me to release soon!! I’m super proud of the songs I wrote that no one has heard yet just cause it’s what I’ve experienced in life and I’m sure other people can relate to them as well once I put the songs out.
Any big plans?
My future plans will definitely have to be shows in the future since a lot of people wanna see me perform. What I’m looking forward to and planning is to hopefully play at event venues since that’s a huge next part in music which will feel like a dream to me. Especially because it excites me that people who found me on social media wanna come to see me play so I’m hoping there’s a Tour in the future!
Another thing I’m looking forward to is making merchandise for the fans once I put out my music on every platform because a lot of them are asking for merchandise on my social media messages. So I’m hoping I’ll be able to Tour and make that happen, there will be a website in the works as we speak too for everything! I feel like it will be a big year for me next year just because of the music I’m putting out that everyone’s been asking for and it can be life-changing for me.
I have a song coming out called Miss You Again that everyone’s been wanting and I have a good feeling that song will change my life hopefully
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonedralin/?hl=da
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079984762538
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/brandone024
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChHYNgNsnR3dbA2aTffuzfg/videos?app=desktop&view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@brandonedralin
