Alternative New Artist Discovery Of The Week
VIP Access. Let’s meet Ella Red.
| ARTIST | Ella Red |
|---|---|
| SONG | “I Like You Best“ |
| LABEL | Unsigned |
| ORIGIN | Dallas, TX |
1. Please introduce yourself and give us the backstory on how you got started.
I’m Ella Red! I’m 20 years old, a little psycho, and I only knew I wanted to be an artist almost 2 years ago. I didn’t even know song writing was an option until I was 16 and deathly afraid of the stage – I thought I would just be a ghost writer! I performed for the first time without my guitar only less than a year ago after I released ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ and I was given the opportunity to give it my all at KTCL’s holiday show last December, and I think that show was the moment I realized I could sink or swim, and I was being given the shot of a lifetime to kick start my dream. Since then I’ve kicked myself into high-gear and made a system that works for balancing my social media, rehearsals, shows, and of course songwriting!
2. How would you describe your music?
I hate to put myself in a box, but I like to say I chose alternative pop and pushed in every direction! I want my branding to clearly display the stark contrast between my music/lyrics and my image/vibe; a princess with a mind that’s eating her alive. I think we’ll be able to uncover more of this story in the coming months, and ‘I Like You Best’ is just the beginning.
3. Who are your biggest influences?
Hozier is definitely one of my top influences currently when it comes to my lyricism. Him, Adele, FINNEAS, Billie Eilish, and Sofia Isella just have the most beautiful poetry woven into their songs and that’s what I prefer to focus on in my music and continue to improve on.
4. What was the inspiration behind your current single?
‘I Like You Best’ is definitely one of my bolder songs and I couldn’t be more grateful for the support and love everyone has shown it. I knew I wanted to write a song about sex from the woman’s perspective, and not in a gross or over-sharing way but in style that was still true to me and my relationship. I had been brewing on this idea, trying to think of a way to begin, and my co-writer/producer Justin Mauriello brought up the idea one day of writing a “shocking song”- throwing out some lyrics like “I like you best when you’re far away from me” or “I like you best when you’re 6 feet under” and I had said, “Why not ‘I like you best when your head’s between my legs’?” And I remember him screaming over the phone as soon as I said that- he said “Yes! Yes that’s it!” I think I stayed up a little too late that night working on the chorus, but just that one line led to all the inspiration for the rest of the song.
5. What would surprise people most about you?
There are a lot of things that I don’t talk about often and I think each one of them would be shocking to hear – but I’ll leave just one for now! I have small episodes of psychosis where I’ll see things that aren’t there or words no longer make sense/come out strangely. This was what inspired one of my upcoming releases, “Parasite”, where the opening line is “I can see my corpse in reflections.” People assume most of my lyrics to be metaphorical, but sometimes it just so happens that what I mean as literal can work as a great metaphor!
