Meet Brenn!, the King of the South Bringing an Infectious Innocence to Folk Pop
Photo: Hayley Hollis
Self-dubbed the King of the South, Brenn! is single-handedly bringing folk-pop to the modern ear at only 18, reintroducing us all to the roots of the genre while layering it with an inner child innocence.
Racking up hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok, Alabama-based Brenn! has built a connection with his audience off of pure charm. Working three jobs while traveling to Nashville to make his dreams come true after getting kicked out of a local band that didn’t see his potential, there is a part of every one of us in Brenn!’s story. The longing for more, the adrenaline that fuels our relentless need to prove the world wrong. He’s demanding his dreams into reality, while never wavering on a smile and galavanting through a wide open plain.
His lyrics are deeply cathartic, singing tales of love broken by distance and identity, all while ripping on his guitar. There’s so much feeling in his rasp, his voice breaking at the edge of every emotion. Brenn!’s catalog sits at only a handful of singles, not even standing behind a fully curated EP. Yet, songs like “oh” and “vintage tees” have reeled in millions of plays and landed him across playlists, even earning him the cover of Spotify’s Folk Pop playlist. With momentum building as listeners eagerly let his music soundtrack their sunset jogs and incoming summers, his name is beginning to hold weight, and rightfully so.
Soaring to unimaginable heights in only a few months, “4runner” is his highly anticipated follow-up, signifying an important chapter for the burgeoning artist. He’s getting to know who he wants to introduce himself as, what he wants Brenn! to sound like. Setting out to write a song that sounds like running away from your past and writing a new story for yourself, “4runner” is encapsulated freedom and anticipation—a breaking point between what was and what is.
“4runner” has already hit over one million Spotify streams, blossoming beyond just a popular, nostalgic TikTok sound. As we continue to watch Brenn! usher in a new wave of indie, we can only hope he remains true to his childlike essence, southern roots, and raw storytelling.
Watch the "4runner" lyric video below:
