A New, Improved, and Openly Queer Brooke Eden

For the first half of 2021, country music artist and former American Idol contestant Brooke Eden reintroduced herself to the world after a more than four-year hiatus.

Enlisting the help of decorated producer Jesse Frasure, Eden released a new trilogy album consisting of the tracks “Got No Choice,” “No Shade,” and “Sunroof,” which have all received critical acclaim. Representing her truth as a queer woman, the trilogy not only highlights the love she has come to have for herself, but also for her long-time girlfriend Hilary Hoover, who is featured in each video. The two announced their engagement in May.

Since making her debut, Eden has shared stages with country’s biggest stars like Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw, amassed 37 million total on-demand streams, and is a proud member of CMT’s Next Women of Country. Unfortunately, to keep her career, Eden was told to stay in the closet and hide her relationship with Hoover, which she eventually realized was total BS. Now, she is boasting her newfound happiness and will no longer apologize for being queer. Joining a growing roster of musicians and other personalities in country music who identify as LGBTQ, Eden is passionately working to show that love is love.

OFM caught up with Eden to talk more about the trilogy, including the Dave Audé remix of “Got No Choice,” and how she is breaking barriers for the LGBTQ community in the country genre.

Can you begin by telling us more about the remix of your latest single, “Got No Choice,” and how it is being received by listeners?
Yes! We got Dave Audé to remix my latest single, “Got No Choice,” and it has been so fun to hear the song in a completely different way. This song was always meant to be a celebration of love, and I really think this version takes it to that level. It just feels like you want to dance on a table and have a great time (laughs). It really does feel like a celebration, so it has been really cool to see people hear it in a different way.

The original version of “Got No Choice” is part of a reintroduction trilogy, which also includes “No Shade” and “Sunroof.” What inspired you to do this album?
After the year that we all had last year, I felt like we all needed a little splash of sunshine. I started with “No Shade,” which is a song kind of about, like, a phoenix rising from the ashes. It’s about coming from a dark place, coming into this new happy place, and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I felt like that was a really good way to kind of emerge from the year that we all had in 2020.

Then “Sunroof” is just a song about falling in love and that excited, giddy feeling that you have when you are like, “Wow, I think this person can be my person.” Just that sunshiny feeling, and then “Got No Choice” is about really being in love with someone and that celebration of wow, I’ve found the person who you know is my other half. I just felt like after the year that we all had, coming out with music that brought people happiness and a little bit of sunshine was how I wanted to come into 2021.

This is your first new music in nearly five years. Why the long pause?
There was a lot going on. My label got bought out by a different label; I was in the closet for many, many years, and I ended up getting really sick. I ended up getting ulcers in my small intestine and that caused a lot of health issues. My doctor basically said, “Hey, in order for you to continue touring, you need to take a few years off to let your body heal,” and that was the physical reaction to my mental state of being in the closet for three and a half years. When a doctor says you need to get off the road, and you need to get your emotional and mental health figured out because you are hiding such a big part of yourself, it takes you back. It is kind of like this lightbulb moment where you are like, “Oh, I need to get right with myself.”

That journey to self-love and self-acceptance isn’t a quick or easy one all the time. For me, I knew that the next music that I put out, if I ever was going to put music out again, it needed to be music that was authentic to me. I needed to be out, I needed to be 100 percent my authentic self, and that journey took me a few years to get there. This new music that I put out wasn’t just five years of a musical journey, but it was five years of a personal journey that I went through and am so happy to be on this side of.

Being your authentic self, is that the primary message you hope audiences take away from this album?
Absolutely, yes. It is sometimes hard to be yourself in a world where you have so many social constraints, but I hope that my music helps other people feel like they can be their own authentic selves as well. Just taking some of that fear away from them. Honestly, my life got exponentially better after I came out and after I was able to live fully authentically. I hope it inspires other people to do the same.

In May, you and your long-time girlfriend Hilary Hoover announced your engagement. Congratulations! Are there any wedding details you would like to share with us?
Thank you! We have not planned anything yet, but we are hoping for fall 2022. We don’t even know the location or anything of where we want to get married. It’s funny because we’re two brides. You would normally think that there would be double the opinions, but we just want to be married. We don’t even really care how it happens. We just want to be together, so I am sure it will all iron itself out at some point soon. Honestly, I have been so busy with celebrating the fact that we are engaged and living our lives that we just haven’t really gotten to the planning part of it (laughs).

Is it true that you were told to keep your relationship with Hilary a secret by country music bigwigs?
Not necessarily by everybody. There were a few people on my team, who are no longer on my team, who basically told me I could keep my career in country music, or I could keep my relationship a secret. I could not have both. I couldn’t be a queer country artist. Obviously, we proved them wrong on that. That was a lie, but I lived in that fear for years. I worked my whole life to be a country singer. That’s what I have always wanted to be since I was a little girl. That was a very scary moment in time for me, but it’s not true. It’s just lies that were being fed.

Hilary is featured in each music video for these three singles. How was it having her be involved?
There is no way I could have had anybody else in my videos! These songs are all about love, and there is no way I could have acted with somebody else. I asked her to be in the music videos in the beginning, and she’s on the other side of the business. She works for Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, so she is usually on the other side of the camera.

She was like, “That’s just not really my cup of tea,” and I’m like, “Alright, guess I am going to have to hire an actor if it looks like you.” She then goes, “I’ll do it.” So, that’s kind of how it happened, and it has been so cool to watch her evolution through all this, where in the beginning, she was really nervous about being in these music videos and being in front of the camera in general. Now, it’s like second nature to her. It’s awesome.

So, you believe attitudes and opinions towards the LGBTQ community are changing in the country music genre?
Absolutely. I mean, honestly, there’s really not a lot of choice that is given right now. We have T.J. Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, who came out this year. We have Lily Rose, Brandy Clark, Brittany Carlisle, me—there is a lot more representation that’s happening in country music right now. The thing about all of those people that I just named is that they are already loved and respected by the country music genre, and the bigwigs in country music. We are watching this growth as it happens right now of not only LGBTQ representation, but also Black and Latino artists coming on the scene. Watching this movement of new faces, new colors, and new backgrounds, it is really beautiful to be a part of.

I think so much of it is the fear of the unknown, especially for a lot of country music listeners who are from small towns and maybe never left that small town. Maybe they’ve never had communication with a queer person or a Black person. It’s this representation of, “Hey, we’re just like you, and we’re not scary.” I think that justice, visibility, and representation is really taking this in a really quick, fast-paced direction toward a more progressive place.

What are you personally going to do to continue breaking down those barriers for the LGBTQ community?
For me, it’s just about living visibly. I am never going to stray from holding Hilary’s hand on a red carpet or posting real life pictures and videos of us living in love. For me, it’s not about making these huge grandiose statements all the time. It’s just about living visibly and people seeing, wow, these are just two regular girls who fell in love and are so happy. Just that visibility and having that representation in a place where there’s not a lot of representation. Making sure same-sex couples have the same visibility as straight couples.

You mentioned earlier that you always wanted to be a country music artist. What drew you to this particular genre?
Honestly, I don’t really think that I knew that there was another genre of music until I was in my teens. My dad was, and still is, a drummer in a local country band in my hometown. When I was little, he was playing every weekend, and I started singing with his band when I was around 5 years old. So, I grew up on Shania Twain, The Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, and Patsy Cline.

That’s what I grew up on, mixed in with a little bit of Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys. That is just how I grew up. That is the music that I was raised on and just always loved. Even as I got older, I got other influences, like I fell in love with soul music when I was in college. Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, and big, soulful voices, but that has always been infused into country because that is just always where my heart was.

As a former American Idol contestant, I must ask, what are your thoughts on the new American Idol format?
I think it is so much better. When I was there, there was Simon Cowell, and his whole jobs on the show was to be the jerk that everybody could lean on. Now, you have judges like Katy Perry and Luke Bryan, who have always been known to be great people. Going through the experience myself, it knocks a person down when you have someone like Simon Cowell who has so much control over what the audience thinks about you versus having judges that lift you up, encourage you, and give you actual constructive criticism that can help your career go in the right direction. That is going to help people instead of making them feel like a piece of shit.

Safe to say you don’t keep in touch with Simon?
No, we do not keep in touch (laughs).

What’s next in terms of your career?
I am getting ready to go into the studio and record new music, and I am guessing with the timing, it will come out sometime next year. It’s really exciting because, thus far, the music that I have put out is all very sunshiny, happy, and the other side of the rainbow, but for me, there was a long journey to get to that. This new music will be more telling of that side of things. There is always a glimpse of hope in any song that I write because that lives in me, but this music won’t be as sunshiny.

Connect with Eden by following her on Instagram, Twitter, or visit her official website.

Photos Courtesy of Ford Faichild