Brandi Carlile's appearance on the cover of the 2023 Out100 was a long time in the making, as the singer-songwriter had already been a favorite among queer people since her debut album was released in 2005.
Over the course of 18 years, Carlile has released seven studio albums, all of which entered the Billboard 200 charts. Her most recent release, 2021's In These Silent Days, peaked at an impressive no. 11 in the U.S. and received wide critical acclaim. There's no denying that Carlile has been at the top of her game, but she's finally getting the recognition she deserves for her work in recent years.
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In 2019, after releasing her sixth studio album, Carlile won her first-ever Grammy Award. By the Way, I Forgive You and her song, "The Joke," collectively received six nominations and three wins that year. Since then, she's gone on to receive another 13 Grammy nominations, seven of which turned into wins, and two Emmy Awards on top of that.
Several of those accolades came in 2023, which also included a Carlile song in the soundtrack of the live-action Barbie movie. The singer covered the Indigo Girls' iconic "Closer to Fine" along with her wife, Catherine, as a complement to the original song appearing several times throughout the film.
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The month before Barbie blew away the box office, Carlile celebrated her birthday hosting an annual music festival at The Gorge Amphitheater in Washington. Among other artists, the lineup included the legendary Joni Mitchell — marking the first time that fans were able to buy tickets to see Mitchell perform in 20 years.
Watching someone so visibly queer — and who has been out her entire career — continue to soar to new heights in the midst of increased hostility toward LGBTQ+ people throughout the United States has been very meaningful, to say the least. In her interview for the 2023 Out100, Carlile acknowledged that being visibly queer during this time feels "maybe tinged with a little more fear than I had early on in my life and career."
