by Sylene Argent
Essex native Jon Brett has a passion for infusing comical and clever lyrics into various music genres. Over the past few years, his tunes have been garnering attention locally and have been responsible for causing many laughs.
His popularity has hit the national stage as Brett just earned a top ten position in CBC Comedy’s Next Up competition, which is due to how well the judges received Brett’s contest submission, the success of his social media challenges, and because of the online support from his hometown supporters.
The local musician enjoys writing songs with a comical twist. Brett’s goal is to make his listeners laugh, enjoy the song, and to add an element of surprise with an unexpected change.
Over the past two years, Brett tried his luck in CBC’s Searchlight, which is a music competition.
The first year, he submitted his song “Uni the Unicorn,” which is about a creature that appeared in town that at first seemed harmless. This year, he submitted his tune “Kill it with Fire,” which was inspired from peculiar news stories that included individuals using an extreme measure to get rid of spiders.
Soon after entering the 2019 CBC’s Searchlight competion, Brett entered CBC Comedy’s Next Up competition.
Making it into the CBC Comedy ’s Next Up short-list was no easy feat. Brett first had to make the top 100 list in the nation-wide competition, which was then narrowed down to the top ten through the second round of the competition.
Part of the second round of CBC Comedy’s Next Up competition had the competing comedians complete social media challenges. One of Brett’s videos, which hilariously highlighted Essex and its many pizza joints, had hit 52,000 views on Facebook in a week, of which Brett was extremely proud.
A panel of judges will determine the winner from the top ten short-list, which will be announced on March 29.
Until then, Brett will wait anxiously to hear the results.
The contest website notes CBC Comedy’s Next Up will give one winner the opportunity to perform at the 2019 Halifax ComedyFest.
To hear more of Brett’s music, check out youtube.com/jonbrett.