This month’s Writers on Track features award-winning artist and songwriter Lindsay Ell with Concord Music Publishing. With a decade-long career marked by three #1 hit songs and a Platinum-certified single, Ell continues to evolve. Her latest single, “story i tell myself,” was released on October 4, and was soon followed by her EP love myself, which dropped on October 25.
What’s your favorite part of the songwriting process?
My favorite part of the songwriting process is that you never know what kind of song you’re going to get. Songwriting is so different every day. It is exciting to walk into the room, sometimes having no idea what you’re going to make and then hours later walking out of the very same room with a finished song, feeling liberated in a way that not many other things can make you feel in life. As an artist I love being able to craft my message into songs, bringing the beautiful chaos of creativity in my brain to life.
What’s your biggest session highlight so far?
My biggest session highlight so far was writing “story i tell myself” with Erick Serna and Becca Krueger.
I remember walking into the room that day with the idea that I don’t want my life to keep being run by all the stories I tell myself in my brain. Stories that tell me I’m not good enough, not pretty enough, not young enough, not smart enough, etc. All three of us connected on the idea instantly and it was like the song just fell onto the page. From the rhythm to the cadence, everything just seemed to kind of write itself. I remember leaving that session that day feeling so proud, knowing that we wrote something honest, and made three minutes of music that I still, months later, want to listen to over and over again.
How much do current market and track trends impact your creative process?
I am definitely inspired by music that I’m listening to, but that can range from really old songs to songs that just dropped.
It is really exciting to me to see the boundaries that artists keep music with current releases, and that definitely motivates me to want to push boundaries in my own way.
Listen to Lindsay Ell on Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify.
