Artist Spotlight: Ella Embraces Curiosity With Her Artistry
- Jaeqwon Suarez
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
BY: JAEQWON SUAREZ / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
As recitals start for the juniors and seniors of RocNation's vocal performance program, one senior has already blown away the audience with her incredible show titled What I Know. Any fan of the artist knows her performances include originals that resonate with listeners, no matter what age they are, and covers that they’ll wish to hear again.
Seawanhaka got the opportunity to sit down with Ella to discuss her journey as an artist over the past four years. From a small town in Wisconsin to the big city, to completing her degree in New York City, and discussing all that she has learned about writing music and creating her senior show.
Many of the storytelling elements that Ella uses in her shows come from her background in musical theatre. This served as a gateway from performing on stage to writing songs with the piano and with the guitar. Seeing the impact and the way people can be moved with art and performances is what inspired her to create music.
“I was always so moved watching performers, or even doing it myself, that I really started to listen to what they were saying a lot, too,” Ella stated.
She constantly spent the summers of her childhood in musical theatre camps and even played a few roles once she entered high school, such as in Working and in Beauty and the Beast. Ella explained how, at age 12, being a part of the School of Rock provided the opportunity to take voice lessons.
It was a learning experience for not only Ella, but for her family as well. She stated that none of her immediate family was a part of the music world, and it took effort from both her and her parents to nurture her talent for music and singing.
From Theatre Stages to Bars
Up until the point of joining the School of Rock, Ella expressed how she was navigating this journey by herself before being grouped with other musically inclined kids of her age.
“There were tons of kids. Kids who sang and kids who played instruments. So you’d audition, and it was in a band that you guys would go to bars, funny enough,” Ella explains. “I go back and look at photos of me at 12 years old in a bar that I go to now with my friends, and I can’t believe that little me was already performing there.”
From being in a bar performing with a band at 12 to booking her first show, with her friends supporting her, as the band at the Bushwick Public House two years ago, Ella excitedly talks about doing more shows after she graduates, now that her recital is over. She states what it was like to be performing on stage at the Bushwick Public House with her friends.
“It was crazy because it really started with us saying ‘oh, we all play different instruments, what would happen if we tried to get together and write a song?’ And for me, I struggle writing music in a group, it’s something you have to do with people you trust.”
She goes on to say that some of her friends learned how to play an instrument so they could all perform it on stage. She talked about how the show had no pressure, and it felt like pure fun, which still encourages her to stay in New York City and make her dreams come true.
“I definitely want to stay in New York, and part of that would be doing as many open mics and shows as possible. Taking up as many opportunities as I can.”
Staying on the topic of songwriting, she gave some details as to what inspires her to write and when she does write.
“It’s more like a spur-of-the-moment,” Ella starts off. “To a fault, I’m an overthinker. It’s insane, so I think when I first started writing music, it became less of a terrible thought that I had about myself. Instead, it was like I dissected everything down to the minuscule details, so why don’t I make this mean something? Or the way I picture it is like whenever I’m going through anything that I need to think through, I write about it and put it away.”
In Ella’s words, it’s something similar to wrapping a bow around the idea before it becomes a song. This can be felt with her originals at her recital, one of my favorites from the night being Bad Investments, but also the star of the night and the name of her show, What I Know.
Many of her songs are relatable and overall tie in this theme of becoming a young adult and what it’s like today. She mentions Olivia Rodrigo and how she got to see her on tour, but also how her writing inspired her during the Sour Tour.
“That was the first person I saw in concert who was my age and writing songs in a similar way. I got a lot of inspiration from her when I first started writing, but it’s a really cool experience because it was less about seeing someone famous and wanting to be them and more about relating to her [Olivia Rodrigo].”
Going out and seeing concerts, for her, is both fun and educational as she tries to find elements that work for her when she’s on stage. Some artists, especially in pop music, contain lots of choreography, a live band, and background singers, and there are others who simply present themselves on stage.
All performances, no matter what is on stage, move the audience in different ways, depending on what they see.
“It blows me away with what people can pull together,” Ella describes recitals at the RocNation program and beyond the campus. “But when I think about myself, I don’t know if that's up my alley, per se, and it took me a while to not compare myself to others. Like ‘oh this person is an amazing dancer, I should be doing this or that, etc.’, and instead I started to think that I could reach my full potential elsewhere. For me, I like to convey it through songwriting, and I want people to relate to what I’m saying.”
Themes That Stuck with Ella
Her limitless curiosity about not only herself but also with reality connects through her performances, as she describes singing her own songs as personal experiences she lets out into the world.
Her vulnerability when she’s alone on the stage, opening her heart to whoever will listen, emphasizes the intimate moments that not many can capture. It’s her ability to connect with the audience about a problem she’s been going through or thinking about, and leave it to them to take it all in and be with her in that moment.
She adds a whole other layer to it when she performs it with either the piano or the guitar, depending on which she wrote the song with. She explained that for her, songwriting changes depending on which instrument she’s playing.
The piano was the first instrument she learned, and most of her songs weren’t as complex on it. Ella describes that since coming to school and learning guitar, it has opened her mind to different possibilities, playing with the structures and the tonality of her songs.
She felt like she was writing the same thing over and over on the piano, so the switch to guitar inspired her more, containing more variety and becoming more personal with her songwriting.
This relates to Ella’s junior recital last year, when she performed one of her original pieces on the piano, and now her senior recital songs are mostly played with the guitar, representing growth in herself and the way she writes.
“I’ve definitely become more confident. The more I’ve written, the more confident I’ve been in my ability to write, but it has its drawbacks. Am I doing the same thing over and over? What am I trying to convey with my songwriting and my message with my music? I think having a nice cushion of music that I’ve written to lean back on totally helps with confidence.”
It was a huge shift for her back in 2022, moving from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, to the big city. Luckily, she said her family was extremely supportive of her dream of singing, and that’s what helped her make the jump.
“I was always a little bit afraid of putting all my eggs in that basket [singing/music] because it’s a big risk. If it doesn’t work out, that’d be really heartbreaking,” Ella recalls. “I was planning on staying in Wisconsin and being a teacher. Then one day in my room, I was feeling confused about my life, between stress and graduating from high school. So I told myself, ‘If I could live anywhere right now, where would it be?’ and it would be New York.”
After researching in the state of New York, she landed at Long Island University and got her acceptance email while she was on spring break in her high school senior year.
What the Future Holds
Coming from such a small, close-knit town where everyone knows each other, the fear of not knowing enough about the music industry settled into Ella. But after four years and performing in a few shows, she explains what helped her through her years in New York.
“Curiosity and always being interested in learning more are themes I try to live by. Not being afraid to try or ask questions. I think there’s nothing cooler than being curious about anything, honestly.”
This perfectly fits into Ella’s personality and the message she conveyed throughout her show, What I Know.
What started off as a song for class about identity became the central theme of what her senior show was going to be.
“I started liking writing songs about how I perceive myself, and I don’t know if it’s easy to pick up on, but as much as I write about myself or things that have happened to me, it’s in a lighthearted way. I’m very much poking fun at myself when I write about myself. So I’m singing a bunch of originals and covers that I know, that I’ve created.”
She then goes on to state how it ties into curiosity, serving as a constant theme in her creative process and life, as she is always perceiving, questioning, or restructuring, and how it differs from someone else’s point of view.
For now, her goals for her career as an artist are to release music for the summer of 2026 and keep performing, so it won’t be too long before we have our hands on some of the originals that we’ve heard.
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