A Chat With Gilanares About Her Recent Album, Suburban Nightmare
The brutally truthful acoustic musician, social media personality and professed horror fanatic that many of us have come to know and love, Gilanares, has recently released her new album, “Suburban Nightmare” in October of 2021. Beginning her career as an upcoming Tiktok sensation, during which she garnered 21.5k Tiktok followers and over 300k combined likes, Gilanares’ success story arrived much like one of her idols, Taylor Swift - with an acoustic guitar in hand and a dream in heart. Nowadays, the twenty-year-old star has managed to successfully develop a fully fledged career as a recording artist, while also establishing her own social media cult following. Editor Caitlin Andrews was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Gilanares (also known as Briana Gil) in early January, chiefly discussing her entry into the music industry, her recent body of musical releases, and her upcoming plans for the future.
Caitlin Andrews: Hey, Briana, welcome to Periphery Magazine! How are you feeling?
Briana Gil: “Hello, thank you for having me! I’m feeling chaotic lately; I think it’s a good thing though.”
CA: Your music career sprung to success through various forms of social media, most notably the video-oriented social media app, Tiktok. Earlier demos of your tracks, “It’s All Mental” and “Good Person” have recently reached a combined total of over 400k views. Have you always wanted to be a musical artist? If you weren’t pursuing music, what do you think you would be working towards instead?
BG: “I convinced myself I could be an engineer for a hot minute, but I think I decided I had to be a musician when I was seventeen. If I wasn’t doing music, I would probably be studying political science. I definitely want to incorporate activism into my career no matter what I pursue.”
CA: Late last year, you released your debut album, “Suburban Nightmare” which contained many finalized versions of your aforementioned original demos. How did it feel when this project finally came to fruition and was released? Are there any songs within the album that are especially personal to you?
BG: “It actually felt weird to release it after it had been living in my head for so long. I was working on that project from home so, in a way, it was my opportunity to escape. I’m proud of it but I wish I had more fun making it. Now that I’m in a city again, I’m having a lot more fun making music. The last song on the album, “The Twilight Zone” is the most personal to me and is also my favorite. The lyrics are especially raw to me.”
CA: Within your track, “It’s All Mental,” you sing the lyrics, “Do even better and don’t learn to settle; if you breathe for a second, you’ll fall back a level…” In reference to your very public musical successes, has your widespread popularity impacted your creative process or personal outlook? Is this difficulty with perfectionism and pressure an ongoing struggle?
BG: “I think regardless of how popular or successful they are, musicians generally struggle with that kind of thing. My mindset lately though has been about having fun with it. It’s sooooo easy to get caught up in what’s external, but music makes the most sense to me when it feels natural.”
CA: Following the coinage of your self-appointed title, “Emo Taylor Swift,” who would you consider your most pivotal creative influences? If you had the opportunity to send a track to any musician and have them provide you with creative or fame-related advice, which musician would you choose?
BG: “I have way too many influences, I’ve lost track of which ones I mention to whom. Taylor Swift taught me what songwriting was so I will always remember her for that. I also loved a bunch of emo bands growing up, namely Twenty One Pilots. I would probably send a track to Bo Burnham too, he’s inspired me a lot lyrically.”
CA: While wearing outfits designed to replicate American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman and Heathers’ Jason ‘J.D.’ Dean on your Instagram account, there seems to be a consistently dark theme across your media - even going so far as to seemingly homage Bateman in your 2021 album cover for the aptly-named “American Entitlement,” and use a Bojack Horseman sample in your (2021) “Good Person” track. What do you think draws you towards sonically and aesthetically dark subjects? If you had to pick a character from film or TV that best represented who you are as a person, who would you pick?
BG: “I think it’s fun and important to embrace the darker parts of one another. I like to use my music and visuals to express the uglier aspects of myself - it’s nice to just “put it all out there” sometimes. Writing is one of my favorite forms of processing, because I love being able to put messy emotions into words that rhyme. I also watch way too much TV so I have a lot of characters I connect to like that. I can basically relate to any character that’s emotional and too hard on themself.”
CA: “Bad Role Models,” your 2021-released track, offers a biting critique on Hollywood and the industry of fame, with lyrics like, “Bad role models - they look so pretty ruining their lives and ruining mine.” How do you think being a young woman has affected your successes and trials within the music industry? Are there parts of yourself that you have to adapt or conceal in order to avoid becoming like “the girls on the TV, snorting lines in the back of a Z3?”
BG: “I tend to surround myself and work with people who genuinely support me, so I haven’t encountered too much toxicity like that. That song is very much about how the media does an awful job of portraying teenage girls. When I wrote it I was frustrated about feeling misrepresented all the time. I don’t think there are any parts of me I conceal in my art though, the whole point is to be uncomfortably vulnerable.”
CA: You have also commented on various social and economic issues within your songs, like “American Entitlement” (2021) which has lyrics like, “I’m American entitlement at its finest, the system works for me ‘cause my bloodline designed it.” Do you consider wealth inequality in America to be an especially important topic of political conversation? Are there any other causes or movements that you are willing to publicly support as an influential artist?
BG: “America has too many issues to address in a response to this question, but my goal as an artist is simply to make the listener think. Whether it's about mental health or politics, I just think we all need to use our critical thinking skills a bit more.”
CA: What would you like to have achieved by the time you’re twenty five?
BG: “I hope my music has reached millions of people by then, that would be pretty cool.”
CA: Do you have any big plans for 2022? Where can our readers at Periphery find you?
BG: “Yes! I’m releasing a song every week on SoundCloud and YouTube! If you look up Gilanares on any social media platform I will pop up, except on Instagram where I’m @gilanares888.”
Periphery Magazine thanks Gilanares for her contribution, and wishes her luck with her future releases! You can find her on social media and streaming platforms here: