Michelle Brooke, ‘Storm’ Music Video [Exclusive Premiere]

Folks in the queer community are already familiar with the concept of a root: Those people or moments who, in retrospect, led you to understand your own identity. In the new video for Michelle Brooke’s smoking single “Storm,” all of Brooke’s roots are on display: her love of ‘90s country music, her untouchable vocals and her honest, queer storytelling.

In “Storm,” Brooke ventures into her most honest storytelling to date. The song’s root lays in her breakup with her first girlfriend, a relationship that helped her come to terms with her bisexuality. “She was able to move on very quickly, and I was kind of stuck in this terrifying, emotional turbulence of realizing that I didn't know who I was at all,” the singer tells The Boot. “I was having a hard time even looking in the mirror.”

Jordan Phillips and Adam Stark of Apollo LTD helped Brooke channel those emotions into a ballad that could compete with the best of the ‘90s country divas, with a big Broadway finish. The song's music video, premiering exclusively on The Boot, is a gorgeous, cinematic meditation on nature, directed by Jason Lee Denton and produced by Jason and Aliegh Shields Denton.

The "Storm" video was shot on the Perry Family Farm in Lebanon, Tenn. “We shot for almost 20 hours straight, and the final scene was the bed scene, where I was drenched by a giant hose with cold water coming out of it, in a giant field in pretty much the middle of nowhere, with just the three of us illuminated in the pitch black by only the filming lights, watching bats and giant bugs flying at our heads," Brooke recounts. "Still, we did about nine takes of that scene, and I don't regret it for a minute.”

In spite of that particular hardship, Brooke has fond memories of the shoot: “Everyone involved has become a dear, close friend for life," she adds. "The experience of this video is unforgettable for me.”

The Detroit, Mich.-born Brooke chalks up her big performances to an early love of musical theater, belting out Broadway show tunes in school plays, at summer camps and in the most intimate venue of all: her parents’ basement. As an adult, Brooke moved to New York City to study vocal performance. In 2016, she relocated to Nashville, where she’s since shared the stage with the likes of Dierks Bentley, Danielle Bradbery, LoCash, Darius Rucker, Drew Holcomb, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Mark Bryan of Hootie & the Blowfish, Kristian Bush of Sugarland and Devin Dawson; she's also performed a duet with Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum.

Fans can learn more about Brooke at MichelleBrookeMusic.com.

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