BJRNCK: The Ten-Year Road to A Girl Like Me

BJRNCK’s story begins long before the first note of her debut album. A Girl Like Me is the book she spent a decade trying to write. “This project took ten years,” she says, her voice calm but certain. “It is my first real body of work, my story, and all of me.” The album represents a turning point for the Chicago-born singer, who spent much of her early career elevating her craft and finding her sound. After many exciting collaborations with other artists, BJRNCK stresses the importance of trusting your creative instincts as she debuts her first album.

In the early stages of her career, BJRNCK often found herself in rooms where every creative decision required a collective nod of approval. “When you are signed, everyone has to be happy with the music,” she recalls. “This time was about trusting myself.” That self-trust became the heartbeat of A Girl Like Me, an album that is a personal project made with intention. “I wanted people to see every side of who I am,” she says, before adding what has become her true purpose: “I want people to hear these songs and recognize themselves in them.”

A Girl Like Me is a well-diverse album, with some songs tapping into softness and longing and others speaking from confidence and female power, but all carrying a distinctive, smooth early-2000s feel inspired by her favorite artists. Her influences from Brandy, Mariah Carey, and Chris Brown are clear but never overwhelming. “Everything repeats itself,” she says. “The new generation doesn't even know Mariah’s first album. I bring those elements back, but in my own way. My music goes back to the foundation of R&B.” That foundation carries through her own favorites on the album, “Say Yes” and “Good 4 Me.” “I am such an R&B girl,” she says, smiling. “Those songs feel like the nineties again. They are moody, soulful, and they remind me how it feels to fall in love.”

For a long time, BJRNCK’s work was filtered through too many hands. Songs were built with writers and producers weighing in on every note until her voice risked being lost in the mix. It taught her how easily authenticity can fade when too many people try to shape it. The turning point came when she decided to strip it all back. She started writing for herself, keeping her circle small and her process intentional. “If I write it myself, no one can take it from me,” she says.

For BJRNCK, songwriting became less about perfection and more about truth. She began treating it as therapy, a way to process love, heartbreak, and forgiveness while reclaiming her creative power. Love remains her central theme, and she half-jokingly calls herself the “love guru.” “I love love,” she says. “My purpose is to show people how to love themselves and how to be loved. If somebody really loves you, they help you become the best version of who you already are.” Her words carry conviction, speaking to women like herself, especially the young ones she sees too often compromising their true selves. “Women often change who they are to fit someone else’s idea of love,” she adds. “But you lose yourself that way. Real love allows you to stay you.”

For a long time, BJRNCK’s work was filtered through too many hands. Songs were built with writers and producers weighing in on every note until her voice risked being lost in the mix. It taught her how easily authenticity can fade when too many people try to shape it. The turning point came when she decided to strip it all back. She started writing for herself, keeping her circle small and her process intentional. “If I write it myself, no one can take it from me,” she says.

For BJRNCK, songwriting became less about perfection and more about truth. She began treating it as therapy, a way to process love, heartbreak, and forgiveness while reclaiming her creative power. Love remains her central theme, and she half-jokingly calls herself the “love guru.” “I love love,” she says. “My purpose is to show people how to love themselves and how to be loved. If somebody really loves you, they help you become the best version of who you already are.” Her words carry conviction, speaking to women like herself, especially the young ones she sees too often compromising their true selves. “Women often change who they are to fit someone else’s idea of love,” she adds. “But you lose yourself that way. Real love allows you to stay you.”

Growing up in Chicago, BJRNCK sang in church choirs that heavily shaped her discipline and defined her relationship with music. “Choir was like sports for singing,” she laughs. “We rehearsed nonstop. You had to learn your part before you came in. It taught me discipline.” Those early rehearsals became her first lessons in teamwork and humility. “It shaped my sound and my work ethic. It taught me that no one is bigger than the music,” she says. The discipline of those long rehearsals carried into her life as an artist, where consistency often matters more than inspiration. “Back then, I showed up because I had to,” she says. “Now I show up for myself.”

Choir was where she learned to show up, even when she did not feel like it, and to listen as carefully as she sang. That evolution reflects how the same faith that guided her in her younger days now anchors her in the studio. She emphasized the importance of having faith in your craft as an artist and in the industry. “Having faith in this industry is the best thing you can have,” she says. “Without that, you are going to give up. I truly feel like the artists who make it in this industry are the ones who do not give up.”

The first song BJRNCK ever recorded, I Care for You, began as a love letter to her mother. “It was me telling her she was enough, that she deserved love,” she says. “But when I listened back, I realized I needed to hear that too.” Her mother and grandmother remain central figures that inspire her as pillars of strength, but also as mirrors reflecting her own path in music and life. “They taught me what to do and what not to do,” she says. “Sometimes I still made the same mistakes they told me to avoid. But that is how you grow.”

That revelation became one of the emotional anchors of A Girl Like Me. The album is not only about romantic relationships but also about healing the bonds between generations of women who carry both strength and scars. “We look at our parents as if they are supposed to have all the answers,” she says. “But they are just living for the first time, too.” In that recognition lies the heart of BJRNCK’s message: compassion. To her, understanding where you come from is an important step toward becoming who you are meant to be. A Girl Like Me is as much about breaking cycles as it is about celebrating them.

Since A Girl Like Me was released, BJRNCK has been taking it all in. The response has been warm, and messages pour in from fans who see themselves in her lyrics, women who say her songs helped them through heartbreak or reminded them of their worth. “People are really loving the album,” she says. “It feels good to finally connect with the ones I made it for.” Her peers have shown support, too, but she admits the moments that stay with her come from everyday listeners. “I have a lot of friends in the industry, but I wanted to reach the girls who actually need this music, the everyday girls going through heartbreak or learning to love themselves,” she says.

After the release, BJRNCK wanted the connection to go beyond the music. She organized the Girl Like Me Link-Up, a fan event created for women to meet her and each other. “Every girl came by herself,” she says. “They came to make a friend.” The night quickly turned into a moment of sisterhood. One shy attendee arrived with her head down and ended the night leading conversations and making others feel welcome. Weeks later, she sent BJRNCK a message saying the event had “healed an inner part of her.” “Those girls are my why,” BJRNCK says. “The ones who come shy and leave confident are the reason this matters. Big stages are beautiful, but small rooms let me look people in the eye.”

Looking ahead, BJRNCK is keeping the momentum going, and she says her moment is now. “I have been in this industry for a long time. Now it is finally my time. I’m ready for the world to see what I can do.” A deluxe edition of A Girl Like Me is already in motion, with handpicked collaborations in the mix. “I wanted the first project to be just me,” she explains. “Now I want to add artists who really connect with the music.” She is also planning her 2026 tour and is eager to perform with a live band. “Performing is my superpower,” she says. “That is where the songs come alive.” With A Girl Like Me, she has found her voice. What comes next is her continuing to use it.