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“I feel like having that background really was able to help me in my music career,” she said. “And then once I fell in love with music, I just wanted to take that route to go and inspire those people that are around me.”

Dylan has been exploring music since the age of 7, she said, first starting by learning the piano and then expanding her skill set to include the guitar. But she’s always used her voice to express herself.

“I just wouldn’t shut up,” she joked. “I’ve always been singing.”

Dylan wants her music to impact people. Her pageant training has been put to use in studio appearances at stations like 101.9FM, where she has a chance to speak about her songs and inspiration.

“I want to make music that will make someone feel something,” she said, “so I feel like it’s important for people to get to know me and my story and like some of the truths behind my songs.”

Dylan drew inspiration from a fire at her family’s home when she was 11 years old.

“It was completely unsalvageable,” her mother Katie Hafer told Patch. “As a kid, she lost everything she’d ever owned. Even her guitar. That was the first thing we got back for her.”

It also jump-started Dylan’s creativity.

“I think music went from being something that she enjoyed to being necessary,” Hafer said. ” I think when it came down to when she didn’t have anything, music became everything.”

“I also just feel like I’m a very deep person and deep thinker, and think about things in like a certain way,” Dylan said. “… almost just like a very like deeper perspective on like life. So I feel like I always like look at like deeper meanings of things and like try to write songs that make people feel something or relate to.

“I think words are so powerful, and can really make someone feel something, whether it can make you laugh or cry or inspire someone to go out and take action. And so I want to be able to use my mindset and the way I look at things to hopefully be able to help people by doing something that I love.”

Dylan is a former Miss Illinois Teen, and was the 2022 Powerhouse Music Artist of the Year winner. She was chosen by Grammy winning producer Josh Monroy to record her first EP album.She’s also a published author of children’s book Operation Daymaker.

Her most recent song, “Criminal” was released in September. Prior to that, her song “Overrated” boosted her Spotify following from 700 monthly listens to 38,000, said Manager Matt Marquardt, of his own MME Music Group. Dylan began working with Marquardt in June, ahead of the release of “Overrated.”

“It’s been a crazy few months,” she said.

As she grows her discography and artistry, Dylan plans to build her knowledge of music theory and writing, also. She’s enjoying learning the process behind song creation, from lyrics to release.

“No song will necessarily start the same way when it comes about,” she said. “You can start a song in so many ways. You can start it with a melody and then write lyrics to it, or you can start it with an idea and start from wherever.

“You can write a verse first or chorus—it’s going to start in so many different ways, and it’s just having to let go of that perfectionist in me, and be able to find more creative ways to grasp that song and make it what it is.”

As she grows into an increased sense of stardom, her mother is grateful that she’s found guidance from those like Marquardt.

“It’s a big dream, you know?” Hafer said. “I feel like it’s crazy when you go fromwhen you’re a little kid and your kid says they want to be a pop star. … And then when you see that she actually has the potential to possibly get there one day … I don’t know what’s scarier.

“… You kind of want to protect her, too. You want to make sure she has the right people around her and the right influences.”

Marquardt said he’s happy to be a part of her story.

“I am truly honored to get to call myself Brooklyn’s manager and act as a mentor/coach to her!” he said. “This girl is a serious force of nature that I can’t wait for the world to discover her! She’s so incredibly talented for her age, and I know she’s going to be a superstar one day!”

Dylan hopes her fervent pursuit of her dream can inspire others her age. Classmates have said they admire her gusto and enjoy her music.

“I just thought that that was so awesome,” she said, “because I feel like I always am so worried about people being able to get the message of my music and what I’m trying to say that I forget that even just doing what I do on like a daily basis and working hard towards my dreams is already an inspiration to other people my age.

“It’s definitely something that is not easy, and I feel like a lot of people don’t even get to see all the behind the scenes. Everything that they know is 10 percent of actually what happens, what goes down—there’s so much that just goes into everything that I do.”

She realizes that it will take more than hard work to achieve the celebrity she’s seeking.

“… Doing what I do, there’s no guarantee,” she said. “There’s a lot of luck. It’s a lot of chance.

“It’s a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, and there’s no guarantee on anything, and there’s no necessarily like a way to go about it. …

“I just feel like you really have to just trust and wait for whatever opportunities are going to come your way to be your route to get where you’re going. It’s never going to be the same for one person, and you can’t necessarily try to be another person because it’s all about you and how you’re going to have your own journey to get where you’re going.”

Find out more about Brooklyn Dylan.

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