Summer was still in the air on the rooftop of The Shelburne Sonesta New York, as Sonesta Travel Pass members and fans of the artists arrived for the Rolling Stone and Sonesta Musicians on Musicians series featuring Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker. With stunning views of the surrounding skyline, the rooftop was a dreamy oasis in midtown with drinks and hors d’oeuvres being enjoyed by guests as they eagerly filled up the seats closest to the stage. The crowd was full of true fans, many wearing the artists’ merch as lively music set the tone for what would be a beautiful night, full of emotional ballads and art as a testament to friendship.
Rolling Stone Social Media Editor, Leah Lu, guided the conversation. When asked about the origin of their friendship, they couldn’t help but laugh their way through a heartfelt walk down memory lane. Zucker describes inviting Cutler to a cabin in the woods of Connecticut to write music; “She immediately picked up her guitar and started doodling and that was the riff that starts Better Off” he says of the duo’s first released song together under Zucker’s EP glisten.
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For the first installment of their collaborative project, Brent, Cutler recalls returning to the same cabin where the two artists met and settling back into their “sibling-esque friendship” adding, “Man, did those three days change the trajectory of our lives.”
The conversation then turned to the artists’ solo work. Zucker spoke of his most recent album Garden State and his home state’s influence on the work describing a “mismatch between what I knew as my home and how I felt about it.” Ultimately he says, “Home is where you’re surrounded by people that love you and people that you love.”
Cutler described her new EP, if i could just stop the time, as “an extremely vulnerable body of work.” The EP explores heartbreak and how it can feel “very acute in the moment, but as time goes on you’re able to zoom out and heal.” She adds that, “Making that mixtape was so important for me to kind of metabolize what I was going through” she says of the work.
When asked about each other, the artists were eager to gush. This mutual admiration and friendship is evident in their newest collaboration, Brent iii. With one experiencing heartbreak and the other finding new love, the artists took care of each other while creating the album, “I was a nightmare…Jeremy was really patient with me.” Cutler remembers. “One of the beautiful things about getting to make music with your friend is that so much of what we wrote just came from us having really honest conversations.”
As they transitioned into their collaborative performance, a first for the Musicians on Musicians series, the space suddenly felt like the living room of that cabin in Connecticut. The artists smiled at each other and began playing, ‘you were good to me,’ from the first Brent installment, then into ‘Emily’ from Brent ii. They brought the tempo up a bit for ‘A-Frame’ from their latest album, Brent iii, the audience singing along all the while.
After their collaborative set, Zucker took the stage for his solo performances, kicking off with ‘Hometown,’ the first song off his new album. He then switched to the electric guitar, and performed one of his early songs, ‘come thru,’ which he says has “taken me around the world.” As he wrapped up, he assured the audience that Chelsea would be up next “to make you guys cry.”
Cutler reemerged to cacophonous applause. She grabbed the guitar and her strumming seemed to quiet midtown Manhattan as she began her set with ‘Crazier Things.’ She then got vulnerable with the audience about her newest work, saying, “These songs were really hard to write,” adding that “I haven’t really performed them live, but I felt like tonight was a kind of intimate chance to get to do them.” She performed ‘if i could just stop the time,’ and ‘i’ll have a good life darling, but it won’t be with you.’ She then took it back to her earlier days with ‘Your Shirt’ and ‘Your Bones.’
Throughout the evening, fans could be seen mouthing along to every song, a true testament to the artists’ loyal and present fanbase in New York. The night came to a close and the Manhattan soundscape returned to the rooftop of The Shelburne Sonesta, but the audience was left in admiration and awe of Zucker and Cutler’s music and friendship.
Sonesta Travel Pass members will have more opportunities to hear conversations and performances by notable artists as The Rolling Stone and Sonesta International Hotels ‘Musicians on Musicians’ series continues on in various cities. Follow along for more updates!
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