INTERVIEW: Bre-Z on the New Season of The CW’s ‘All American,’ Her Writing Process for ‘Family Over Everything,’ What Message She Wants to Give Fans, and New Projects

Bre-Z stars in The CW’s All American and Glitter spoke with the actress all about the new season and bringing her music to the show.

She portrays Coop in the hit series, which was just renewed for another season. The new secret-filled third season airs new episodes Mondays at 8 – 9 PM ET and you definitely don’t want to miss it. On the All American S3 Official Soundtrack, you can hear Bre-Z’s new song with Chelsea Tavares called, “Family Over Everything.”

Read our exclusive interview with Bre-Z below to find out what her dream storyline for Coop is, all things music, inclusivity in the entertainment industry, what self-love means to her, and more.

GLITTER: First of all, congratulations are in order because All American was just renewed for another season, so huge congrats. What was your reaction when you found out?
Bre-Z: I felt like, you know, pickup’s never really happen that early. So I was just like dang, but of course, super excited, super hyped. I mean, this season is gonna be so good, so we needed that. We needed that because if the fans had to wait to find that out, it would have been mayhem on the Internet.

GLITTER: Is there anything you hope to explore further in terms of Coop’s storyline in season four since you were just renewed? If you create your own dream storyline, what would it be?
Bre-Z: I would like to see Coop’s dreams really come to fruition. I mean, in terms of being an artist, I think she fights so hard for her own independence, so to speak. Like I want to see that. I want to see Coop do it. I want to see her do everything that she wants to do that she should be doing. You know what I mean? I just want to see her not always be at the head or tail end of confrontation; at least give her the moment.

GLITTER: What is your favorite quality about Coop, and do you share any qualities with her?
Bre-Z: I think her perseverance is something that we both share, and her ability to just overcome is definitely something we both share. But that’s one of my favorite qualities about her. She always finds a way to keep going no matter what. I mean, different obstacles get in her way, and she just keeps going. That’s what I like most about her.

GLITTER: What can you tease about what’s coming up for the rest of the season?
Bre-Z: Oh, shoot, I’m assuming these summer secrets are going to slowly but surely start to be revealed. That’s really it, and I think these are some heavy, you know, it’s not as– I know the fans are like, “Oh, what is that!” But I think it’s really something worth paying attention to cause it’s going to be explosive.

GLITTER: In episode four of this season, the show will be debuting the song “Family Over Everything,” which you and Chelsea perform. What do you love most about performing?
Bre-Z: I think performing is just another way to translate emotion and energy. So that’s why I love it so much, because, I think it’s– depending on the song, any song, take any song you want, there’s something in a song for everyone. The amount of people that it can potentially touch is just amazing; it’s just a song.

GLITTER: You also have a writing credit on the song; can you discuss that writing process?
Bre-Z: Oh, well, I wrote the entire song, with the exception of Chelsea’s verse, but the process for me is this: I had a conversation with my showrunner, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, and she always just kind of just tells me like, “Listen, this is what’s going on. This is what I need.” What I love most is that she describes to me the feeling she needs. “I need to feel this. I need you to talk about this.” You know what I mean? But it’s more so the feeling, and that is what I was able to tap in and just step outside of my character and really look at every situation that our cast goes through as far as their characters go in the show. So always trying to make it relative to everyone and not just Coop.

GLITTER: The song expresses the importance of family in every form. What is the importance of family to you?
BRE-Z: To me, it’s everything and it doesn’t necessarily mean we have to be related by blood. Family comes in the form of pets, you know? Friends, to me. But I mean, that’s who we are. That’s our foundation. That’s our soil; that’s where we grow from. So those that you consider family, it’s like grass; like we need dirt, we need water, we need the sun. You get what I’m saying? All of us have to work together in order to grow properly. Everyone has to play their part. So to me, it’s very important because if we lose the sun, trees won’t grow. If we lose water, the soil will dry out. So I think it’s super important because it speaks to everything that we are or everything that we become.

GLITTER: What do you think the entertainment industry needs to work on when it comes to inclusivity?
BRE-Z: I think fairness. The entertainment industry needs to understand totally what it means to be fair, and that’s something that we don’t see. I don’t think you being on your job 20 years more than me makes me any less capable of getting the job done. In fact, I think I may have more energy because you’ve been here 20 years, you know what I’m saying? That’s one of the things that I would love to see; the true essence of equal opportunity. We don’t see that often. There are still big I’s and little you’s. Hopefully, we can get to that point somewhere in the near future. Maybe tomorrow? I don’t know.

GLITTER: Did you learn anything about yourself during social isolation?
BRE-Z: Honestly, I live like that normally, so I’m not a fan of just being around unnecessary things or just being out all the time; I’m not one of those people. So when the pandemic and stuff happened, it’s like, “Oh, quarantine? Stay in the house.” I’m like, “I’m in the house anyway.” So for me, it was kind of like having that time to really just lock in and do what it is I wanted to do. The projects that you were working on, the pieces now I can finish it, see it all the way through, and things like that. So it was kind of– it was cool for me.

GLITTER: Do you have any hidden talents that maybe fans don’t know about?
BRE-Z: You know, girl, I’m so talented; I just love to do so much. I love to cook, I love to photograph, I love to write. I might make a book. I might make a book about it, all my hidden talents. Lay it out!

GLITTER: Top five favorite films?
BRE-Z: Juice, Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Waiting to Exhale.

GLITTER: Do you have any comfort shows?
BRE-Z: Martin! Martin Lawrence. That is the only thing that makes me feel like myself.

GLITTER: Last song you listened to and really related to?
BRE-Z: The last song I listened to was just in the shower, a song by Musiq Soulchild called “So Beautiful.” It was a very relatable song, and he’s just talking about his girl and how she’s so beautiful. I’m watching my girlfriend walk back and forth in the room, and I’m just like, “Hmm.” I’m like singing to her in my mind.

GLITTER: What message do you hope to give people that look up to you?
BRE-Z: Believe in you. Believe in you, and however you feel, is okay. I think those are two things that kind of crush dreams, you know what I’m saying? It crushed dreams; people not believing in themselves or someone else thinking, “You should do this, or you should do that.” It’s really just like, “no, no, you make the decision and be okay with it.” If you’re able to do that, you’re 100% fine, I promise. That’s it; that’s how I feel. That’s how I feel. I think it’s simple. It’s not even like– those are two things that could take you a long way in life. As long as you’re okay, it’s fine, because I think it’s worse when people tell you to do something and then it doesn’t work, and you feel bad about it; you shouldn’t listen to that. But I’m one of those people where I make all the decisions because I can deal with being mad at myself. I can blame myself; I, however, do not want to blame you.

GLITTER: Do you have any dream roles or projects?
BRE-Z: Yeah, I want to do comedy. I want to do comedy, and I want to do a rom-com at some point. I feel like I would fit very well in that space. I haven’t really had a chance to, like, tap into that yet, but that’s a dream of mine.

GLITTER: Glitter has a celebrity self-love campaign. What does self-love mean to you?
BRE-Z: To me, self-love is just is taking care of me in every way. Back to what I said before, it’s me being okay with the decisions I make. Being okay with the food I eat and just those things that mean the most to me—doing those. Not doing other things because society says this, or your friend said that, or your mom said that, but just truly, truly doing what I want. It’s self-love, you know because there are so many distractions; there’s so many things that will pull you in directions that aren’t necessarily where you want to go, and that is due to lack of strength in belief in self, in my opinion. So for me, it’s really just doing what I want. I love myself. Like if I want to– if I don’t want to take a shower all day and not get dressed, I’m not doing it. Because I’m completely catering to how I feel, and that’s it, like just truly catering to how you feel. Whatever that may be for you. I don’t look at things like, “Oh, because you do yoga three times a week, you love yourself. Oh, because you drink enough water to f*cking kill the fishes (it’s not me) you love yourself.” But just truly doing whatever it is that makes you happy in that moment because those moments will be more important than any other moments in your life, in my opinion.

GLITTER: Do you have any new projects coming up that you can tease or share?
BRE-Z: Well, currently, of course, we’re still working on season three, every Monday that’s dropping. So right now, I’m just finishing up my album, preparing to drop that in March and just tying up all the loose ends, getting artwork done, get some content together, and that’s it.

GLITTER: What are the best social media platforms for fans to follow you on?
BRE-Z: Instagram and Facebook, I’m very active. I think I’m pretty regularly active on Facebook @WHOISBREZ. That is– I’m always live on there cooking for hours, just talking to my fans. I like it there because just more direct, and I’m not saying Instagram live isn’t, but I think there’s a more personal something about Facebook. That works for me. I like that; I like the normalcy of that. I feel like Instagram’s kind of hyped up. Like you kind of got to be doing some obnoxious or whatever for people to actually sit there and watch you. They want to see, like–Instagram’s like TMZ. You just gotta be doing something crazy. So I kind of take my social talents over to Facebook, and I enjoy myself there.