brittanykwasnik.com

Nowadays the Internet can be used for everything, including finding up-and-coming stars.

This Wednesday, local Internet sensation Brittany Kwasnik will perform an acoustic set at Le Cagibi. The 16-year-old singer-songwriter made her online debut about two years ago and is now signed to Montreal-based Justin Time Records, with her first album, I Don’t Know Me, set to be released in January.

Kwasnik’s success story has humble beginnings. Given a guitar when she was just nine, she taught herself to play via the Internet.  She then began writing music and lyrics.

“I would write [music] when no one was home,” Kwasnik says. “I did it secretly because I thought I sucked. But one day I was caught by my friends and mom, and they started making me sing for them. I then started doing open mic nights.”

After recording a song at a studio in Montreal, her friends got a hold of the MP3 and uploaded it to YouTube with a picture of her. After three days it had amassed close to 37,000 hits.

The teen’s indie sound and heartfelt lyrics appeal in a way that is hard to pinpoint. It seems to always come down to her “rawness.” That’s not to say that her songs are unfinished, but they avoid the clutter that most people associate with modern pop songs (read: auto tune., synthesized beats, etc.). Her songs are carried by her lyrics and her voice’s subtle maturity.

“When I’m doing an acoustic show, I can be very acoustic,” Kwasnik says, “But when it’s produced, I like to call it relevant pop. To me, that means the angst and honesty of indie music with the fun of pop and electro pop. It’s a fusion between that. A lot of my stuff is indie, but when it’s produced it’s much more electro pop.”

Though Kwasnik’s musical influences include Tegan & Sara, Taylor Swift, and Colbie Caillat, her personal background is more relevant to her sound.

“A lot of my music is because of a foundation I’ve created called Nobody Knows,” Kwasnik says. “It’s to help people who live with siblings or parents who are mentally ill. When I was younger I lived with someone with a mental illness, and my music helps me express and deal with it. In the future I want to start a house for those people, someone and somewhere they can call to ask for help or just talk. “

However, there is more to her inspiration. What makes her songs so relatable isn’t just their emotional value-it’s also their candor.

“I’m also just a really big observer of other people,” she says. “I can just be walking down the street, and see other people, or my friend walking down the street and that can be inspiration as well.”

Brittany Kwasnik is playing a free show at Le Cagibi on Wednesday, September 15. Visit www.brittanykwasnik.com for more information.