Teri Bracken’s career as Brontë Fall began almost accidentally. The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs had always been a music obsessive, dreaming of forming her own bands and playing on stages. While working at The Hideout, a beloved music venue in Chicago, Bracken told the talent buyer she was working under that she started a band. A week later, the booker asked if her band wanted to play a show there. So, Bracken hit the practice studio with a friend to add to the mere 2 songs they had written as said band. She threw together a bio, took some press photos, and sat in a cafe all day until she came up with a band name. Inspired by the perseverance of the Brontë sisters—whose resistance to gender stereotypes in their industry would be a guiding light for Bracken—she named the group “Brontë.” She added “Fall” after her favorite Emily Brontë poem, “Fall, Leaves, Fall.” That was the beginning of what has become Bracken’s life—a dedication to songcraft, equality, and the Nashville community she now calls home.

Bracken’s road to acclaimed songwriter began in childhood, when she picked up piano at age 7. Violin lessons soon followed and she spent many of her formative years in various choirs and orchestras. From there, she served as lead singer/violinist in a college rock band with a group of nineties rock loving frat boys, before ditching that scene to pursue a degree at Berklee—again for classical violin. It was at Berklee that she discovered her love of songwriting and fell in with the folk/roots scene there, which has no doubt influenced her mixed Americana/Alt-Pop sound today. Bracken eventually made her way to Nashville—a dream come true considering it is a songwriter’s mecca. Now, the Brontë Fall stage show will find Bracken playing violin, guitar, and piano; she always has an instrument in her hand.

This new era of Brontë Fall is heralded by the stunning single “Woman Like Me,” which emerged from years in the industry that were trying and heartbreaking, but ultimately strengthened her resolve in her mission. After releasing Finishing School in 2020 and recording Winter in 2021 (released in 2022), the songwriter, who has called Nashville home for six years, took some time to be with her ailing father. “Life really went off the rails. On Winter, I was writing about being in a tornado. That’s what my world felt like,” Bracken explains. She’d finish tours and go visit her father in the hospital, who ultimately passed away in July 2022. It’s in his honor that this new work began. “I write. That’s how I get through life,” Bracken explains.

Bracken is ushering in this new era of her career with the staggering and powerful single “Woman Like Me.” The track is both a reminder of Fall’s skills as a songwriter and a significant leap forward in both sound and style. It’s a defining statement, the culmination of years grinding for a shot and, at the same time, a new beginning.

“Initially, I wrote this song from a very vulnerable place of feeling unlovable because of all the ways I don’t meet the traditional female expectations pushed upon me by society,” Bracken explains. “There’s this idea that we must ‘settle down’ at a specific time to start a family, give up our careers and lead a purely domestic existence, that we should be the apologetic, pleasing, peacemakers.”

“Woman Like Me” is a push against this notion; it’s not angry—the angry woman trope is long past its expiration date—but wholly confident. “I am in part owning who I am but also lamenting the unease I feel.” That Bracken even has to feel any sense of lament about being exactly who she wants to be gives this song its somber power. Despite its title, though, Brontë has found the song has an appeal outside of women. “The track touches people regardless of gender because we all feel pressure to fit a certain box based on where we’re from and through the lens of social media.”

Recorded with a backing band of Matt Bubel, Robert Kearns, Jabe Beyer, Corey Congilio, Tim Craven (who also produced it), and John Henry Trinko , the song signals a new era for Bracken. “Woman Like Me” is the first of many new songs from the artist, all of which honor a new commitment to her most true self. “With this new era, I just wanted to be as authentic and raw as possible. In the past I was trying too hard or trying to be too different from who I actually am.” Now, Teri Bracken is presenting this unbridled vision.

That philosophy is reflected on other singles set for release, which include “Making It Up" and "One More Day.” The former is a simmering alt-pop ode that finds middle ground between Sheryl Crow and Kacey Musgraves. She sings of dancing around beers and cables, staring at a half-empty tip jar highlighted by a five dollar bill she put in herself. Still, for Bracken, there’s nothing better than this life. She sings: “I got no idea what tomorrow’s gonna bring, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.” During the chorus, she stands firmly on this world she’s created, proud of the little wins and big victories that make her career the most fulfilling gig on Earth. “Piece by piece I’m creating the life I want/ It might not be the right way, but I’m not gonna stop.” She concludes: “I’m making it up as I go.” This life may be unpredictable, but Teri Bracken is one helluva improviser.