When Brett Bull ’17 arrived at SUNY Potsdam as a psychology major, and began working on a self-proclaimed “low-key” musical project on the side, he never expected it to turn into a future music career.
Bull’s musical side quest evolved into something bigger when he passed off a CD of his original songs to a friend at a party. And now he has an original song featured in Sean Baker’s upcoming Hollywood film, “Anora.”
Bull transferred to SUNY Potsdam as a junior from Hudson Valley Community College. “I was at a weird crossroads in my life, and I honestly didn’t even know if I was going to go back to college at that point,” he admits.
When he arrived in the North Country, he fit in nicely, worked hard, landed on the President’s List several semesters, and graduated cum laude. “I always pursued music, but I would balance education as well and really tried hard in my classes. I took it very seriously,” he said.
Through it all, he found a lot of support at Potsdam from students and professors alike. “Dr. David Bugg [in the Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice] was one of my favorite professors. I took a lot of classes with him, and he would always tell me to pursue music. He was a big inspiration for me at Potsdam,” he said.
Having dabbled in making music throughout middle and high school, Bull is no stranger to writing lyrics and releasing songs. “I was extremely young [when I started] listening to beats and writing lyrics at home,” he recalled. “From sixth to eighth grade it was really low-key, and probably around high school, someone said ‘You should go to a studio.’ I didn’t think of it being a serious thing that I would end up pursuing.” At that time, he had only released songs on SoundCloud, a popular music streaming platform, and still hadn’t set foot in a studio. That all changed one night in Potsdam.
“I went to Potsdam and I gave my CD to one of the kids at a party, and he hooked me up with a family friend producer that he knew,” Bull recalled. “People say they know someone, but he sent this guy my CD and a few days later, he’s like, ‘Bring this guy out to Massachusetts to meet me."
That weekend– and every weekend after– Bull found himself making the six-hour drive to Bryan Lamontagne’s studio to create music all weekend, then heading back to Potsdam for classes on Monday morning.
When asked about his biggest musical influences, Bull lists a few big names– artists like Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G, and more obscure picks like Jedi Mind Tricks. But his first and biggest choice? His mom. “She’s been my biggest inspiration for music. She always played Broadway soundtracks on long car rides, and she would bring me along to plays, and eventually I found a passion for music and that sort of just drove me to become a songwriter,” he said.
His music taste spans from Broadway and rap over to the surf rock style of the Beach Boys. And lately, he’s been enjoying country music. Since relocating to South Carolina, where the country music scene seemingly grows every day, Bull is adding some new influences to his music taste and style. “I’ve been thinking of making almost like country rap songs. That’s getting really popular these days,” he said.
How did a SUNY Potsdam alumnus get his music connected to a professional Hollywood film? First, he joined the Crucial Music Corporation, a company that works to place music from independent artists in blockbuster films and television shows. “It was their connections that helped me get to that point,” he said.
It took a few years to get traction, but one day, Bull was met with an email that changed everything—his song “Hit the Strip” had been chosen as part of the soundtrack for a feature film.
“It all comes back to Potsdam. It’s where I wrote the lyrics for the song and it’s making my memory flood with all the great memories of the people that I knew. You all go on your own journeys and yet they still have a huge impact on your life. It’s just such an important place to me.”
Ahead of its October 18th release date, “Anora” has already been met with massive praise. It premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France, where it won the Palme d’Or—the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film at the festival’s competition. It is the first American film to win this award since 2011. “Anora” has also achieved a rating of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and after its premiere at Cannes, the audience honored the film with a 10-minute standing ovation.
If Bull could give any advice to students looking to build a career in the music industry, he would tell them not to give up. As simple as that may sound, he stresses that the human mind is capable of unthinkable things. Having faced criticism from his peers during his musical journey, he knows that it’s easy to lose hope. "It was always deeper than just the music for me. I don't know if a lot of people understood that," he said.
Bull’s music was in Crucial Music Corporation's public catalog for seven years before it got picked up by any film, and even in that time, he never lost hope.
What’s next for Bull? He’s eagerly awaiting the release of “Anora,” so he can see how his song is interwoven with the film. “I’m making bets with friends and family about what scene it’s going to be used in and for how many seconds,” he laughed.
When film representatives reached out to Bull about using his song, he was only notified that his track had been chosen, without specific information about where it would be featured in the movie. “I'm also excited to see if I’m right about what part of the song they are going to use. I don’t think it’s going to set in until I actually watch the scene and hear the song I wrote,” he said.
Bull also has a new single called “Tijuana” coming soon, as well as his own licensed clothing line, Classy as California. The experience has also been a trip down memory lane for Bull. He spoke eagerly about the possibility of coming back to perform some songs for current Potsdam students, as well as seeing the campus again.
“It all comes back to Potsdam. It’s where I wrote the lyrics for the song and it’s making my memory flood with all the great memories of the people that I knew,” he said. “You all go on your own journeys and yet they still have a huge impact on your life. It’s just such an important place to me.”
Article by Justine Strauss ’25