Track By Track: Act I By Bríet

Bríet’s Life Is A Movie

After completely owning the Icelandic music scene since the release of her 2020 Esjan, Bríet — to the great surprise of her fans — turned towards writing music in English. Back and forth between Nashville, Tennessee, and Iceland, Bríet’s EP Act I is a logical waypoint in Bríet’s journey towards a more country sound.

Cowboy Killer

“Cowboy Killer” was my first idea on this album. I had this thought for a very long time to write the other side of the story from another song I wrote in Icelandic called “Rólegur kúreki”. That song paints a picture of a girl mesmerised by this man who doesn’t really see her. He’s on his high horse and doesn’t see the stars above the cap of his cowboy hat. Iceland got so in love with that song and the question I got about that song was, “Why did I give him so much credit if he was such an ass? She looked like a little wimp just following that crazy cowboy.”

Well, here we are ladies and gentlemen. I wrote her side of the story cuz she’s a fkn cowboy killer. She is the one that mesmerised and has so many love letters on her doorstep that she can’t be bothered. I had this idea and then I went to Nashville and met two amazing ladies and told them this story and we wrote it in an hour. Then I got home to Iceland and met with my producers and guitarist and the song just wrote itself.

Until Then

On the same trip where I wrote “Cowboy Killer” in Nashville, I met up with my friend Kyle Ryan. We’d been writing a bunch of pop songs together, but nothing was really clicking, and we only had two days left. That morning, we sat down thinking we were finally going to finish those other ideas. Kyle was strumming the guitar, and I was just humming over it. Outside it was burning hot and the crickets were screaming their lungs out. It was one of those rare crossover years where the four-year crickets and the eight-year crickets hatch at the same time, so the sound was absolutely insane.

“I didn’t want to force another pop song.”

But while he kept playing, I told him I didn’t want to force another pop song. I wanted to write how I’d actually been feeling that strange, painful stage of waiting for someone, knowing it’s not the right time to go back. That feeling of, ‘I know it’ll happen someday… but not today, or the next’. And that’s how “Until Then” was born.

Sweet Escape

It was February 2025. I went to Mývatn in North Iceland with my adorable friend Lárus! We woke up every morning, made coffee, and sat by the piano and wrote songs. We were snowed in so we couldn’t really go anywhere so we made soooo many songs. One of them was “Sweet Escape” and it was supposed to be a pure love song that someone could be your sweet escape. Then Lalli had the idea to twist it up and give it a more gut wrench with the concept of it being about falling in love a little over and over again and just realising the person is some kind of escape from emotions you’re not dealing with. Which was exactly what I’d been feeling and telling him about over meals and baking cakes locked in a tiny 100-year-old house. We had been listening to old country music all week and we took the guitar and wrote the first half of the song at that moment and then the other half of the song in West Iceland. So this song travelled a lot before it was born.

Bang Bang

I struggled with this one, only because it was so last minute. I was about to leave for Nashville to shoot a music video, and I wouldn’t be back for a month. The album was supposed to be delivered while I was gone. Two days before my trip, I was in the studio when Lárus told me he loved the little demo we’d made the other day and that it should be on the album. In my head I was like, “Nooo, it’s not country enough… and it’s about another person… it doesn’t fit the storyline…”. All the excuses.

But instead of saying no, I just told myself, ‘“Fine. Finish it, and decide after.”

And then I wrote the hook, “Bang bang, you shot me down again.” The second that line landed, there was no turning back. It was stuck in my head for my entire trip. I totally fell in love with the song and now, honestly, I think it’s the banger of the whole album.

Voice Memo 05.07.23

Recorded on my phone in the middle of a heartbreak. A song I used to sing with him and in the end of the recording you can hear him walk away. I have no more words, just listen to it.

Walk Out the Door

My absolute favourite song on the album. I wrote it on my piano at six in the morning after a night out, makeup still on, eyes barely open, the keys echoing through the walls and probably waking my neighbours as they made their morning coffee. This song is my side of the story.

Act I came out November 7. Listen to the album on available streaming platforms.