On the back of his success at DB Definitely Best and Nextwave Beach Music Festival, Phoenix Broderick is preparing to release his first album. Elizabeth Kerr reports
Seventeen-year-old, DBIS student Phoenix Broderick is dialling in from Bristol one morning in early July where he’s vacationing with his dad and stepmother, just a few shor t days after his set at Tai Pak Wan’s Nextwave Beach Music Festival, alongside the likes of Tyson Yoshi, RubberBand and KOLOR. That after radio vet Brian Chow, songwriter T-Ma and singer Walton Pun Van Taylor decided Phoenix was the DB Definitely Best singing contest’s DB champion in June.
“I made it through to the DB Definitely Best finals in 2023, so winning this year was a proper full-circle moment,” Phoenix opens. And what of per forming at Nextwave, one of the biggest music festivals in Hong Kong? “It was a great experience that definitely taught me a lot about how life is going to be as I continue to grow as a per former. Just the little things like having a dressing room, in-ear monitors and proper microphones was enough for me, but then per forming in front of roughly 500 people with my own song, You, just topped off what has been the best year of my life – my final year of being a teenager.”
As it turns out, Nextwave isn’t Phoenix’s biggest gig to date, that honour falls to DBIS Carols on the Pitch 2023, still one of his favourite performances. “We got 1,000 people to sing Hey Jude with us, not a very festive song but it got people buzzing,” he explains. “That performance was huge for me and the band. Most definitely, DBIS has changed me and inspired me to become who I am today as a performer, songwriter and as a person.” A true fan of per forming live, Phoenix has four future must-dos: Wembley Stadium, Glastonbury, St Peter’s Village Hall in Paekākāriki (his hometown) that holds about 100, and DBIS’s Globe Theatre.
THE FIRST SINGLE
On the music front, Phoenix has gone from zero to 60 in a relatively short span of time, crediting Harry Styles with getting him into music and Ed Sheeran for keeping him there. Rewind to 2020, when he decided to pick up an instrument, and settled on the uke. “You can just whip it out, and you’ve got a whole lot of songs you can sing around the campfire,” he says with a chuckle. A teacher caught wind of Phoenix’s playing and encouraged him to start singing too. From there it snowballed and he finally took up the guitar, learnt more about singing and started writing his own songs.
One of those is the just-released I Don’t Need to Write a Break-up Song to be Successful, available on Spotif y (Phoenix Broderick), Instagram (w w w.instagram.com/phibrodt v) and YouTube (w w w.youtube.com/watch?v=FF Wtu86 _908). Is that a dig at Taylor Swif t? “It is if people want it to be,” he says with a grin.
To Phoenix’s mind, his first-ever single reflects most of the material on his forthcoming debut album, which is determinedly free of what he calls break-up songs. “I’ve never been through one of those proper heartbreaking break-ups, you know? I’ve been a part of a couple of teenage relationships, but nothing too intense,” he says. “People expect good songs to be break-up songs, but I want to prove they don’t have to be.” Phoenix will be promoting I Don’t Need to Write a Break-up Song on RTHK this month. His second single, Stars, follows in September (check his socials @phibrodtv for updates).
THE ALBUM
Phoenix refers to himself as a “classic four chords guy, no Jimi Hendrix-type shredder” – and it’s his catchy melodies and riffs that make him stand out. “Ed Sheeran is someone I constantly look to for inspiration on new guitar skills, crowd interactions and, of course, singing,” he says. “In terms of my own lyrics, I really just write about how I feel that day. I often have an idea in mind as I pick up my guitar. Sometimes the lyrics are proper rubbish but sometimes the lyrics are deep and just hit different when I sing them back, those are the ones that will make it into my album.”
Despite being somewhat self-effacing, Phoenix is clearly ambitious – and focused. When asked what he’s doing for the summer, there’s no mention of plans to sit on his duff cruising Netflix or playing the Elden Ring expansion. He’s trying to cut down on the time he spends scrolling through Instagram reels, and the main goal is to put the finishing touches on the album.
“I’ve pre-recorded a lot of videos for my YouTube channel, so between editing those and recording the album, and editing a couple of videos for school, it’s not going to be a summer where I can just sit back and relax,” Phoenix says. Not that he wants it to be. He’s well aware of the nature of the modern music biz, and he’s putting real time into socials and building a brand that way. Which in itself is nerve-wracking. “It’s extremely terrifying, because I go on Instagram and my feed is… just so many people like me, people who’ve already got so many followers and have posted so much more music than I have,” he says with a head shake. Then he imagines all the musicians who share his dream who aren’t on social media; the ones outside his geography.
“I’m putting so much time and effort into music, if it doesn’t work out, then what, you know?” By the same token, Phoenix is keenly aware that if you don’t take the risk, things really won’t happen. Hence his focus.
FINAL YEAR AT DBIS
The next year or so is going to require just as much drive, and Phoenix is off to a great start. He’s heading into his final year at DBIS as a Head Prefect, something he’s aspired to since joining the school in 2015. “After three stages of difficult interviewing processes, I feel so grateful to be in a position where I can give back to the school that has given so much to me,” he says.
Phoenix is studying Music, Media, BTEC Business and BTEC Travel and Tourism – and he’s really into the extra-curricular: “being a House Captain and running the events that role entails, organising and running end-of-term assemblies, creating large whole-school events and, of course, the performing arts.” He played Shrek in Shrek Jr. The Musical at DBIS in March, and one of the leads in last year’s school show Fame.
“2024 has been the busiest year of my life, however, with what I want to achieve within DBIS before I leave, and what I want to achieve as a singer-songwriter in the future, my life is only going to get busier,” he concludes.
On finishing school, Phoenix plans to take a gap year to travel and make a name for himself. He’d like the album to “blow up” but isn’t fussed if he doesn’t break out on his first try. His deadline to get the ball rolling is 2033; he’ll be 26. No one needs to remind him that Sheeran didn’t go viral until the release of his third EP. Good things come to those who wait, and to those who deserve them.