With just over 457,000 monthly listeners Brye is spreading the message of body acceptance. The queer and plus-sized singer-songwriter explores topics ranging from eating disorder recovery to religious trauma. 

With emotional and biting lyrics, Brye works to edit the world of diet culture surrounding us. The Chicago-based singer is best known for her song “Lemons” about a bitter man whose personality resembled citrus.

They opened for Addison Grace on the Diving Lessons Tour, which started in Portland in October; and released their debut album RECOVER on Oct. 20. Brye’s album honestly describes everything, from young queerness to the ‘gym bros’ in her comment section.

The title track for the album is “Recover” and it takes listeners on a journey as Brye chooses recovery. She describes the ways diet culture infiltrates society — from the most recent fad diet to the people who promote it. They present this idea with the lyric “Another wellness diet has got us in a chokehold and Gwyneth Paltrow’s gone insane/The body positive movement has gone mainstream like nine generations too late.”

The Gwenyth Paltrow line refers to earlier this year when the wellness influencer shared her habits of overexercising while on a liquid diet. On a podcast titled “The Art of Being Well” Paltrow promoted multiple “health-saving techniques” that are not backed up with scientific evidence. One example includes IV therapy which provides the same effects as staying hydrated but comes with the risk of the body processing vitamins too quickly as they are put directly into the bloodstream instead of being digested according to WebMD. Paltrow, who lacks a nutrition degree has had a dangerous amount of influence on how people treat their bodies.

With soft but catchy production, “Recover” encourages listeners to choose their health over an eating disorder. By the song’s end, Brye is closer to reaching self-love — welcoming her younger self.

The next track, “Diet Culture” serves as a critique of modern body expectations. Brye twists the saying “my body is a vessel” which is often used as a reason to restrict food groups and instead sings “If my body is a vessel/I will give it what it needs.” The instrumental is haunting and serves as the perfect background as Brye tells the stories of triggering experiences from someone who “forgets” to eat to the people whose worst fear is to be in a larger body. “Diet Culture” resonates with fans who are often frustrated by the multi-billion dollar diet industry and the fear it creates around weight gain. Brye often creates videos of herself happily dancing in response to hate comments on the song’s meaning. 

The song “NOTHING!” stands out for having the best clapback to the cyberbullying in her comment section. Reactions to the star’s music range from those in recovery, who appreciate Brye’s comforting lyricism, to faceless accounts using her comment section as a place to pour some extra hate into the world in the form of fatphobia. Some of the most memorable lyrics include “Some middle-aged gym bro with nothing else to do is typing in all caps saying I should lose a few.” The song serves as musical reassurance that one is doing the right thing by prioritizing their recovery.

“It’s very much rooted in things like ableism and extreme classism. Someone doesn’t need to earn respect, earn medical care, or earn self-love,” said Brye, referring to those who limit their support for the body positivity movement to certain body types in an Instagram Reel.  

The closing track, “Direct Message”, sends reassurance to those struggling with disordered eating and reminds them that one day they’ll recover. Brye describes a message they received from a teenage girl asking for help that read: “How in the world did you get better? I wanna get better too/ You seem so confident/ I wish I was like you.” She concludes the song with a stream of echoing lyrics from “NOTHING!” and “Recover.” It’s a comforting close to the album that doesn’t give any energy to her oppressors.

“These people [commenters] pretend that they’re being helpful but really these people hate themselves because they’ve been sold the idea that they need to lose weight to be happy,” said Brye in an Instagram Reel. “My existence goes against everything these people have been taught.”

Brye uses music as an outlet to encourage those in recovery to take care of their bodies and keep going. RECOVER provides comfort to thousands of listeners and deserves a chance in your AirPods.