ALEXANDRIA — While growing up, Brooklyn Marie Ostlund spent much of her youth unplugged yet musically tuned in. She and her younger siblings — Mady, Gavin and Westin — spent time singing in church and performing at the annual Jingle Bells Telethon, which raises money to help families with financial hardships enjoy the holiday season.
Brooklyn’s parents, Clay and Kristin, encouraged their children to share their musical talents for charitable causes from a young age, and ever since, their house has been filled with music.
“I have always tried to include music wherever I am,” Brooklyn said. “All of our home videos include my siblings and I singing and performing … we were always centered around music.”
Brooklyn, however, took it to the next level this summer as she auditioned and was cast for NBC’s reality singing competition series, “The Voice.”
“For months I didn’t know if I would make it,” Brooklyn said. “The entire time I was just guarding my heart, trying not to get my hopes up, because I know how competitive competitions like this are. When I finally got the call, we were in the Zorbaz parking lot after my sister’s birthday party, and our car just erupted with screams.”
The 14-year-old and her father boarded a flight and spent a month in Los Angeles, preparing for her blind audition.
“It was go, go, go with vocal lessons, wardrobe, makeup, hair, interview practice, interviews, videos, pictures,” Brooklyn said. “I ended up missing the last two weeks of eighth grade and had to keep this big secret; … everyone thought I was away at music camp.”
Brooklyn wowed judges when she took the stage, singing “Traitor,” a song by Olivia Rodrigo. Chair turns from Queen Latifah and Kelly Clarkson secured her chance to compete on season 30 of the show.
“My blind audition was like a rollercoaster of the most scared I have ever been to the most excited, to not even knowing what to do next,” Brooklyn said. “I was so nervous, but I tried not to think about the national television aspect and just imagined that I was singing to the four judges.”
With her family cheering her on from the side of the stage, Brooklyn claimed her spot on Team Kelly, which she said was not an easy decision to make in the spotlight.
“I was so excited when I saw Kelly’s chair turn,” Brooklyn said. “Latifah had a compelling argument … but Kelly has worked with young artists, and she has navigated a competition show before, so I really thought she would be the best option for me to be able to learn and grow from.”
Since returning from L.A., Brooklyn is back to working on her first solo album, which she hopes will be released early next year. She has two singles available on streaming platforms.
“I am working on five singles right now,” Brooklyn said. “I really enjoy freewriting before bed, so I have a lot of ideas floating around in my songbook, my notes app (and) my voice memos — snippets of songs and lyrics. While we were in L.A., my dad actually created an app for me called MusicianOS to help me keep it all in one place. To find the time to put it all together is hard, because I have been so busy.”
Ostund is in her second year of playing gigs throughout the local area.
“The vibe at breweries might be my favorite, but I have been playing all over at local places and events,” Brooklyn said. “It’s been really cool to see that I’ve built up a following of people who come to see me.”
The hub of everything Brooklyn Marie-related is available on her website (brooklynmariemusic.com), where followers can become part of her inner circle and tag along on the journey. Keeping up with it all takes dedication and the thoughtful consideration of her mother, who is her full-time manager.
“This whole thing has been very much a Brooklyn-led, Brooklyn-driven effort,” Kristin said. “As opportunities come up, I can’t help but worry … every step of the way. I am constantly asking her, ‘Are we saying yes to too much; do we need to offload?’”
Brooklyn is a full-time high school student, and she also plays in the school orchestra. She attends eight music lessons a week: vocal, guitar, piano, violin and music theory. Remarkably, she has a full school day built around these routines.
“My first plan is music,” Brooklyn said. “My backup plan is medical school. I like helping people, which is one and the same with music and medicine.”
When Brooklyn isn’t playing guitar, singing or songwriting, she loves spending time with her family’s four rabbits and their flock of chickens. Although Brooklyn said she is not too keen on cleaning out the chicken coop, she adores all the snuggles and playtime. Growing up on 200 acres has given her the freedom to serenade her chickens, hide out in the family tree fort and just be a kid.
Youth group is a non-negotiable in her busy life as well, she said. While growing up can be hard, Brooklyn has had influential people to help guide her along the way. Some of her biggest influences, mentors and instructors stem from the very vessels deeply rooted in her life — her family, her faith and her academics.
“My mom is the one who started me on this path; we sing together in our church band,” Brooklyn said. “My dad is the one who encouraged me to put my name out there, and I’ve been performing alongside some of my biggest influences over the years.”
Brooklyn has been making appearances at sporting events to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and plans are underway for her 11th consecutive year performing at the Jingle Bells Telethon, with her siblings by her side, of course.
Brooklyn said she and her guitar go everywhere together. She has big goals on the horizon, including co-writing, sound recording sessions, video production and filming her second music video with contacts in Nashville. For the past seven years, Brooklyn has been working with Nolan Weiss as her guitar instructor, and the duo has been chipping away at sound recording during their sessions.
While the Calvary Church attic in Alexandria will always be the place where she got her start as a recording artist, as her aspirations grow larger, Nashville has a hold on her heart.
“Music is something I have been doing for so long, and I love it so much that it isn’t a chore for me,” Brooklyn said. “I have built my life around it. I believe that if God put me on this earth and gave me this incredible talent, I should share it … so I am really trying to go for it and make that dream come true.”
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