Interview: Giddy Up with Brooke Eden

Step into the honky-tonk heart of Brooke Eden, where her Florida roots and love for line dancing fuel the infectious Giddy Up, a Pride anthem blending country twang with queer joy. In this exclusive interview, the groundbreaking artist opens up about her journey, challenges in the country music scene, and creating a safe space for all through her music and dance.

Q: Your song Giddy Up is a blend of country and pop, some twang and some sparkle. What inspired this fusion, and how does it reflect your musical evolution?

Brooke: Well, firstly, I grew up in a honky tonk. My dad is a drummer in our local line dancing band in my hometown in Florida. I’ve been line dancing and literally grew up in a honky tonk. I started singing with this band when I was five years old. So, it’s kind of in my DNA. But then I also grew up loving Shania Twain and loved how she had that dancey pop infusion in her country music. I think that for a long time I was just trying to fit into this country music mold, what would they play on country radio for the longest time? And this was kind of the first time that I was, I’m just going to write music that I love, that I feel I need and want. So, yeah, there’s kind of this fun little infusion of poppy, danceable stuff. But then, you still have your country elements, like that fiddle that is just throughout it and kind of the signature instrument in the song. So, for me it came from my background is fully country music. I’ve just seen a lot of exclusion lately of Beyonce puts out this incredible country record, wins a Grammy for it, and she got so much hate from the country music community for putting out a country record, people saying it wasn’t country enough and all these things. And this song was really my invitation to anyone who feels they love country music but maybe didn’t grow up on it, or maybe they did grow up on it, but they never got to hear their stories in country music. So this song was kind of a way to get people acquainted with country music and also an invitation to anyone who feels they want to be a part of country music. Giddy Up was, I created a line dance that is really, I think, accessible to anyone. You don’t have to be a highly skilled line dancer to jump in and learn it. And my line dancing community was a huge part of my family, my chosen family forever. So, I really wanted to have something that brought everyone together and brought some inclusiveness to country music.

Q: What’s the story behind the line dance for Giddy Up?

Brooke: The dance was choreographed by Mikey Minden, who is a choreographer in LA. For me, there’s a lot of fundamental moves. A grapevine or a lasso move in this dance that if you’ve ever line danced even the electric slide, you would know what a grapevine is. The line dance definitely goes with the words of the song. Left, right, left, right, step, getting up has it goes along with the steps of the song. But it’s, I wanted it to be really accessible. And I think I’ve taught it to many groups of people in five minutes or less. So it’s been really fun to get to share my love of line dancing with a bigger community.

Q: Many of your lyrics showcase personal storytelling. How have your life experiences been an influence on your songwriting?

Brooke: I write about exactly what’s going on in my life at the time. My life is definitely a big part of my songwriting and usually plays a very essential role in whatever I’m writing that day is usually coming from an experience that I’m having at that time.

Q: Coming out in the country music scene is pretty groundbreaking. What challenges and triumphs have you faced along the way?

Brooke: Lots of challenges, just in the sense that there’s always a line with how far you can go. I’ve definitely had a lot of triumphs in the sense that they didn’t kick me out of country music, but they still haven’t really taken a chance on playing a queer artist on the radio. Of course you have Brothers Osborne, TJ from Brothers Osborne is out, and they still play them on the radio, but it’s more their older songs. So, I would say I still haven’t seen country music really take a queer artist and own them. And I really like to see that happen.

Q: You’ve played some Pride festivals like WeHo Pride and World Pride DC. How have these performances resonated with you personally or professionally?

Brooke: They have been some of my favorite shows I’ve ever done. World Pride was, WeHo Pride is just so fun. I think it’s fun too because it’s the first thing of the Pride season. It was such a great lineup and it was so fun to get to perform in that kind of an energy. And then the next weekend was World Pride and getting to perform in our nation’s capital at a time like this. It wasn’t lost on me the impact of what it meant to have World Pride in Washington, DC, especially this year with everything that’s going on. It was a really big opportunity to spread queer joy and be within the community. I’ll never forget the sea of people that I couldn’t even see the end of the crowd at World Pride. Just knowing how incredible our community is and how everyone really comes together and stands with each other and fights with each other. With the LGBTQ suicide prevention hotline going away, I think it’s more important than ever to be loud and visible and represent what this community is. This community is just so much love and it’s so much joy and resistance. I’m so proud to be a part of it. And then the weekend after World Pride, I did Arlington Pride. That was insane. There were probably twenty thousand people in Texas. I wasn’t expecting there to be that many queer people in a really southern city. So it was those three weekends back to back were kind of dream scenarios for me.

Q: Giddy Up has been dubbed a Pride anthem. Is there is there a message you hope it conveys to the community?

Brooke: I hope that it just shows that there’s a safe place for queer people and country music and all marginalized groups. I hope that they can see and hear themselves in country music and that we’re creating a space and a community for people from everywhere, with all types of backgrounds, no matter who you love or where you come from. There’s a safe space for you here.

Q: How do you navigate the challenge of balancing your growing family and music career.

Brooke: Yeah, honestly, I’m so lucky. My wife is incredible. She’s also my tour manager. We kind of it’s kind of this family affair. We do everything together. We make a lot of decisions together. We just took this summer kind of show by show with how we whether or not we are going to bring our son and figure out care for him and all those things. Really having an incredible partner is how we how I handle it. We just figure it all out together. Beckham did get to come to WeHo Pride with us. Baby’s First Pride. He absolutely loved it. He’s a busy bee. He loves to be in the drama of it all. He loves being a part of things. He loves to be busy all the time. So he loved Pride.

Q: So after Pride season, what’s next for you? What’s next for you? Are there any upcoming projects or goals you’re excited about?
Brooke: Yeah, I’m working on new music, which, of course, I’ll always be working on new music. I’m really excited for what’s to come and just to continue to build this community and keep on broadening the visibility of queer people and country music.