Written by Kathleen Hokit. Published on July 12, 2026.
Some people keep a journal. Others call a friend. For Bakersfield local, 15-year-old singer-songwriter Anberlin Flowers, it has always begun the same way, sitting down at a piano and writing a song.
“I use it as kind of a coping mechanism,” Flowers told Kern Magazine. “It’s my version of journaling.”
Those songs were never intended for anyone else’s ears.
“Most of the time they’re really personal and I don’t intend on anybody hearing them,” she says. “It’s like you wouldn’t let somebody read your diary.”
Yet on July 10, one of her song journal entries became something much bigger.
Flowers officially premiered her debut single, “My Girl, We’ll Be Fine,” alongside its first music video, inviting listeners into a story she once believed would remain hers alone.
The song traces the emotions surrounding what she describes as her first serious relationship as she entered high school, capturing the uncertainty, hope, and insecurity that often accompany young love.
“It was about getting into my first real relationship going into high school,” she says. “We weren’t quite together yet, but I was thinking, ‘I really want to be with you, but there are so many better people that you could be with.'”
Rather than trying to ignore those feelings, Flowers did what has always come naturally.
She wrote.
Music has surrounded Flowers for as long as she can remember.
“My dad has always been into music,” she says. “Writing it, listening to it, making it—whatever it is. I think just being raised constantly around that kind of got me into it.”
Her father plays guitar, sings, and writes songs, while Flowers discovered early that the piano was where she felt most at home.
“I was probably seven or eight when I started.”
Although she also plays a little guitar, she smiled when asked which instrument truly belongs to her.
“Piano is for me.”
Singing came even earlier.
“Pretty much as soon as I could talk.”
Her musical influences have evolved over the years, beginning with Taylor Swift and Katy Perry before branching into bands like Panic! At the Disco and Paramore through her older sister. Today, she enjoys everything from ’80s pop to today’s chart-topping artists.
“My favorite artist is Conan Gray,” she said. “It has been for the past four or five years.”
Despite writing songs for years, Flowers never imagined anyone outside her closest circle would hear them.
The first person she trusted with her debut song was her piano teacher, Ellie Enns.
“She’s like my best friend, my older sister, everything in one.”
Courtesy of Ellie Enns
Her teacher encouraged her to perform it during a recital.
Kern Magazine spoke with Enns to learn about her development as an artist and more generally what it is like to work with Flowers:
“I’ve had the absolute privilege of working with Anberlin for several years, and it has been such a joy to watch her grow, not only as a person, but as a songwriter and artist,” Enns says. I’m continually impressed by her creativity and her ability to tell a story through her songs while coanveying emotions that truly resonate with people. “My Girl, We’ll Be Fine” represents a new level of maturity in her writing and showcases her growth as an artist. I couldn’t be more proud of her!”
When Flowers finally shared the song with her father, Sean Flowers, his reaction surprised her.
“He was shocked,” she recalls with a laugh. “He was like, ‘I didn’t know you could actually write a real song.’ The last time he heard a song I wrote, I was like six.”
After the recital, her father posted the performance online, where it caught the attention of Brandon Rose. Rose is the filmmaker and showrunner of the Kern County documentary series What’s the 661? and has earned 10 film festival laurels for his work, including a Best Cinematography award, and most recently served as cinematographer on Kern Oil, the award-winning documentary directed by Rickey Bird Jr. that received Best Documentary honors this summer.
Rose immediately recognized something special.
“He reached out and said, ‘This is what people want to hear. This could really be big,'” Flowers says.
That recital performance became the catalyst for something far greater.
“She’s a true artist. The recital video her father posted, showed me Anberlin had strong ambitions,” Rose says.
Credit: Brandon Rose
Recording the song professionally with Pariecee Mondragon at Pariecee’s Music Productions was another first.
“I thought there was going to be a lot of doing it over and over again,” Flowers says.
Instead, the experience was far more relaxed than she expected.
“I only had to record the piano once. Then we recorded the vocals two or three times.”
The production team later pieced together the final version by selecting favorite moments from each vocal take.
Filming the music video proved just as rewarding.
“It’s been really fun,” Flowers says.
Working alongside Rose over several filming days, she watched her lyrics come to life on screen.
“Our time filming was incredibly fun and I loved her input on how she wanted to capture the meaning of the song during the production,” Rose says.
Credit: Brandon Rose
“He writes everything that we do for the music video,” she says. “Then we meet up and he just tells me what to do.”
Although Flowers has performed at piano recitals, releasing original music to the public required a different kind of bravery.
“There was a time in my life where I was just embarrassed about every single little thing that I did,” she says. “It really held me back.”
Eventually, her perspective changed.
“There’s no point in being embarrassed.”
It’s advice she now offers to anyone afraid to pursue their own creative dreams.
“If you do something negative, it’s probably not going to matter in 10 years,” she says. “If you do something positive, it might not matter in 10 years, but it also could help you a lot in the future. So just don’t be embarrassed about everything.”
Away from music, Flowers enjoys spending time with friends, sewing and altering clothing, making friendship bracelets to trade at concerts and expressing herself through fashion, makeup, and colorful hairstyles.
“I have a fear of consistency,” she jokes.
That same creativity continues to shape every part of her artistic journey.
On July 10, that journey reached an exciting milestone.
At 7 p.m. PT, viewers gathered on YouTube for the live premiere of “My Girl, We’ll Be Fine,” where more than 100 people tuned in to watch Flowers’ debut music video together in real time. As the premiere unfolded, the live chat quickly filled with messages of encouragement from viewers celebrating both the song and the young artist behind it.
Collection of comments from Flowers’ live YouTube premier.
For an artist who once believed her songs belonged only inside a diary, seeing a flood of supportive messages appear on screen marked a fitting beginning to what promises to be an exciting musical journey.
Kern Magazine’s Signature Questions
What do you love most about your Kern County community?
“”I love that everybody kind of follows the rule of, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything. There are a lot of people who, if they do like what you’re doing, they’re not going to hesitate to let you know they support you.”
When you eat local, where do you go?
“I like to go to Chuy’s because I’ve been going there ever since I was a toddler. My grandparents really loved going there, so I just have a lot of really good memories.”
When you get out of town, where’s your favorite spot?
“Me and my dad don’t get out of town much. But when we do, it’s usually Los Angeles or Inglewood for a concert.”
It seems fitting.
For someone whose earliest memories are filled with music, whose songs were only meant as a personal diary slowly became a collection of songs, and whose first single has now found its audience, concerts aren’t simply destinations.
They’re reminders of where dreams can begin.
And for Anberlin Flowers, that dream is only getting started.
“”I truly cannot wait for the next , which we are currently in pre production for,” Brandon Rose says.
Kern Magazine was created by locals for locals. Kern Magazine is a digital lifestyle publication spotlighting local voices through perspectives of business, arts, and culture, and the people moving our beautiful county forward.
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