GOOD GRIEF

about us

Good Grief is a Toronto-based songwriting duo, consisting of powerhouse singer-songwriters Bryn McCutcheon and Kirstyn Johnson. After serendipitously being paired together at a writing camp hosted by Dreamhouse Studios, Good Grief was quickly formed. Their collaboration is founded on a shared belief: that creating space for their collaborators to access and express their defining truths is crucial in crafting impactful projects.

This writing duo has worked both locally and internationally with artists & producers such as Ari Hicks, Banx & Ranx, Blaise Moore, Chin Injeti, Daneliya, Delaney Jane, Fefe Dobson, Katherine Li, Lili-Ann De Francesco, Mackenzie Arromba, MKLA, Nelly Furtado, Nicolina, Rêve, Ryland James, Saint Harison, Shawn Desman, Sofia Camara, Strings from Paris, T-Minus, Tyler Shaw, Zolita, and many more.

Meet the Team

  • Co-Founder, Songwriter, Producer

    Kirstyn Johnson is an artist who seems to exist only in paradoxes - both timeless and current, raw and refined, cinematic and intimate. Combining a highly cultivated vocal tone and an unparalleled level of lyrical vulnerability - Kirstyn has become known for the way she bares her heart and breaks it in the same breath. Her pop ballads serve to immortalize the defining moments of life, love, and love gone wrong.

    Originally from Alberta, the Berklee College of Music grad moved to Toronto in 2019 and has been working with artists on and off the stage as a songwriter, pianist, vocalist, and producer ever since. With over a decade's experience writing with collaborators internationally, her debut single, “The First Mistake” was released in November 2023, introducing herself to listeners with a heart-wrenching story of hope in a relationship doomed to fail. This release was supported by a one-take live music video featuring a nine-piece band to exactly replicate the studio recording. In February 2024, Kirstyn released her follow-up single “3 Hearts”; a guitar-centric folk-pop tale where she navigates rose-tinted nostalgia and the emotional infidelity that comes with it.

    Her debut EP is expected in autumn 2024.

  • Co-Founder, Songwriter, Producer

    Bryn is a Toronto-based artist who walks the line between pain and empowerment with her signature warmth, poetic lyricism, and pop sensibilities. Her carefully curated catalogue explores everything from constructed femininity to hereditary trauma and all the heartaches she’s survived in between.

    With each release, Bryn peels back the layers of her identity, beginning with her 2021 single, “Making Monsters” (which debuted in the Apple TV documentary, “One Week Til Doomsday”), which personifies anxiety as a lover she can’t shake. Her more recent singles, “No Man” and “Room” venture into her love life, unearthing conversations about her sexuality and a brittle case of romantic claustrophobia. Bryn is also featured on songs such as “Dead Types” by Don Mills and “One Eye Open” by Royal Wood (co-written with Linda Perry).

    Her upcoming EP is expected in the fall of 2024.