Brandy Clark Is Nominated for 6 Grammys — but Still Feels Somewhat Insecure: ‘It’s Part of the Job, I Think’ (Exclusive)

The Grammys have long showered Brandy Clark with multiple nominations and much-touted accolades, but never a win. And while that could all change at the 66th Grammy Awards on Sunday, the Washington native isn’t fazed at all.

She’s just happy to be here.

“I think about that girl who thought there was no way I could ever be an artist,” Clark, 48, tells PEOPLE. “I remember that girl who didn’t think she was pretty enough or that she couldn’t do it because of my sexuality. They were insecurities and I just decided to move forward even in the face of them.”

Go ahead, she is.

Clark is nominated for six Grammys this year, including best country song and best country solo performance for “Buried,” best Americana album for the self-titled Brandy Clarkbest American performance and best American roots song for “Dear Insecurity” with Brandi Carlile and best musical theater album for Shit.

“It’s a good lesson to not let insecurities rule you,” says Clark, who is the most nominated country artist to never win a Grammy with 17 nods to her name.

Brandy Clark at the MusiCares Person of the Year Gala on February 2, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty I

Despite this, Clark would be the first to admit that she had to struggle with multiple insecurities throughout her life, despite her parents’ best efforts during her young upbringing in Washington.

“I had parents who didn’t pay too much attention to your outer beauty,” she tells PEOPLE. “When I think about myself as a teenager, I was insecure about fitting in. I wanted to be good at things. I always thought I was trying to be good enough to fit in with my peers, but really, I think I was just trying to be good enough to fit in alone with myself.”

And those insecurities didn’t disappear even after she found herself in Nashville.

“The music business or any kind of entertainment business is going to put those kinds of insecurities in you“, she says quietly. “This is how it goes. I think it’s part of the job.”

Brandi Carlile & Brandy Clark Perform Heartwarming Duet of ‘Dear Insecurity’ at 2023 Americana Honors (Exclusive)

Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile perform on stage for the 22nd Annual Americana Awards and Honors at the Ryman Auditorium in September 2023 in Nashville.

Erika Goldring/Getty

Clark touches on some of the specifics of those insecurities in the music video for the Grammy-nominated “Dear Insecurity,” a powerful track on which she collaborated with the equally incredible Carlile.

“It didn’t make sense to me that one of us was in the video and not the other, but [producer] Trey [Fanjoy] made me appear in the last scene,” Clark recalls in the final moments of the transformative music video, which shows her sitting for an interview under the bright lights of self-doubt. “I mean, I’m critical of myself like all artists are of themselves in front of the camera. In those moments, you are asked to be your most vulnerable. And that’s hard to do when you’re struggling with what you think is being said behind the camera.”

It’s a truth rarely spoken about, but very real for Clark.

“I always struggle with physical insecurities,” admits Clark, who will embark on the tour in April. “I’m always thinking I need to be 10 to 15 pounds thinner or I’m complaining about my gray hair and how I need to dye it. I think we all struggle with these kinds of insecurities every day.”

Brandy Clark performs onstage during A Celebration of Craft Presented by Producers & Engineers and Songwriters & Composers Wings at the GRAMMY Museum on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Leon Bennett/Getty

Confronting those insecurities is something Clark and every character in the “Dear Insecurity” music video ends up doing. And after seeing it firsthand in the music video released last October, Clark says she couldn’t help but cry.

“I can find myself in every character in that music video,” Clark quietly admits. “I mean, you can start out thinking you’re a great singer and songwriter, and then you hear someone who’s greater. I don’t think it will ever end. The only way to combat insecurity is to simply try to deal with it.”

Clark also says she once felt insecure about being a gay woman in the country music industry. “It was a huge source of insecurity for me,” says Clark. “I always thought, ‘Oh my God, will people love me if they know this?’ I felt like I had to be 10% better to be accepted because of that.” She pauses. “And honestly, that’s probably why Shane McAnally and I created some great things together because we both felt that way.”

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Brandy Carlile and Shane McAnally at the Tony Awards in New York in June 2023.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Their most notable recent creation is writing music and lyrics for a Broadway hit Shit. “I was always insecure about my talent because I was in a group of very talented people,” Clark says. “But maybe I need to get over it.”

The 66th Grammy Awards will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 4 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

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Source: HIS Education