Music has always been the greatest love in my life, and performing has always been the second. From front yard shows for neighbors, tiny basement concerts for family, and bedroom performances for me, myself, and I, I've spent my whole life daring to dream big. This continued on in to high school, traveling and performing with Up With People after graduating, and starting to create and perform my own music as Gabrielle Elise in late 2020.
In early 2024, I acquired Long Covid, which ultimately led to me becoming disabled by multiple health conditions. When this happened, I feared I would have to give up my dream of making music and performing for good, as it wasn't physically possible for me to do at the time, or potentially ever again. I sold my music equipment, and shelved my dreams.
Over time, with a lot of work and a lot of pacing, I began to regain function, and my dreams suddenly didn't feel so out of reach anymore; they just looked different. I would be lying if I said that this experience didn't shake me to my core, and change me forever. I'm still disabled, I still have to pace my energy, but my world has started to expand again. These days, I have gratitude for the ability to walk more than a block or two, standing for extended periods of time, and being able to perform again. Hope is a funny thing, the way it ebbs and flows, but right now I am full of it.
After all of this time and change, Gabrielle Elise didn't quite feel right anymore. Coming back into music again somehow felt like starting over, but also coming home. With that, it felt natural to transition to a new stage name. One that felt more authentic to me and the music that I want to make. Brielle comes from my given first name, Gabrielle. Skye came to me one day, as I was thinking of new names, and upon looking it up I immediately felt connected to it. The feeling of freedom, open-ness, connection to the world, and endless possibilities. I'm also an air sign, but that only played a small part in the name choosing. On a quiet day with my head in the clouds, Brielle Skye was born.
I have some exciting projects I am working on, performances coming up, and a single release coming in the beginning of August that some of you OGs may have already heard (21 anyone?). My hope is that if just one person sees themselves in my music, they will feel a little less alone in this crazy world. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of stepping back into music in a sustainable way after becoming disabled, and I hope you choose to stay awhile.
XOXO,
Brielle Skye
