A Look Inside Ellie Williams' Diary
22-year old and LA-based Ellie Williams, a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, isn’t afraid to bare her heart and soul when it comes to her music. The result is an addicting indie catalog of catchy messages, a lyrical diary that pulls on your heartstrings.
Image courtesy of @samuel.victoria
Having music be a part of Williams’ life was never really a question. She originally grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where she was born into an incredibly musical family. “My dad is a great guitar player and a great vocalist, and used to make songs to get me and my sisters out of bed and to school,” says Williams. Having grown up surrounded with such strong musical influences, Williams became interested in music at a very early age. She started taking guitar and piano lessons, and soon after one of her formative music teachers opened the door for songwriting. “I walked into the studio one day and she had the lyrics for one of her songs taped up on the wall, and I remember coming in and being absolutely floored.”
Immediately intrigued, around the age of 11 Williams started writing songs herself. “They were all really bad at that age, and that’s okay,” she recalls, with a laugh. Gradually, the more and more Williams wrote the more nuanced and refined her music became. She began recording her songs, then releasing them, and playing them live, until she cultivated a loyal audience that connected with her expressive and honest wordplay. “I think a lot of the music I’m making right now is reminiscent of Maggie Rogers,” says Williams, with childhood influences like Alessia Cara, Julia Michaels and JP Saxe also playing a creative role in the crafting of her sound.
Image courtesy of Ellie Williams
As a recent USC graduate, Williams grappled with balancing her burgeoning musicianship alongside burnout, Williams grappled with balancing her burgeoning musicianship alongside burnout. Working two jobs with a full course load and trying to be an artist was more than a little difficult. This called for late night music-making sessions that lasted for a few hours at a time. “[My producer and I] would make something and we’d be like ‘God this awful. This is absolutely terrible, we should probably quit music’. Then we’d let a week go by and listen to it and be like ‘Wait, we really like this. This is cool!’” The songs from these sessions manifested into Williams’ most recent release, Warning Signs, her EP that came out in August of this year. The entire project is very personal, chronicling her previous relationship from beginning to end: infatuation, falling in love, the breakup, and the aftermath of the fallout.
“Massive Heart Eyes,” the introductory track on Warning Signs, is a definite favorite for Williams. Despite not being the typical length of a full song, it utilizes unique production and sets an experiential tone for the EP. “It was just a really special track because we incorporated a lot of voices that mean a lot to me. There’s a voice memo from my dad in it, audio from videos with friends and singing happy birthday, blowing out the candles and things like that,” says Williams.
Lyrically, “After You Go” sticks out. Not only is it fun for Williams to perform live, but it’s also a moody breakup song, the kind that is not commonly found in her discography — which has traditionally been on the more wholesome side of romance. For “After You Go,” Williams put out a visually stunning music video to accompany the emotions of her post-relationship reckoning. Talented friends of Ellie’s, JT Clemente and Caro Knapp, came together to direct the project. “My girlfriend got to be in it too, which was fun. I didn’t have to fake a relationship, cause I’m really bad at that,” WIlliams jokes. The video works to convey the intimacy of the lyrics, and that intimacy is a true signature of her work.
The profound feeling of candor Williams is able to evoke in her songwriting is a testament to the relationship she has with her producer, Jack Kolbe. “I am very much a hopeless romantic. One of the benefits of working with someone really close to you is that they know a lot about your life already. Jack kind of knows everything about my relationships and what’s going on.” Sometimes when you work with a stranger you have to give them a crash course, but for Williams and Kolbe, this process of pouring their emotions onto the page comes easily.
“I would go into the room and we would spend maybe an hour just talking about our lives, venting, catching up, because we were friends as well. And then we’d be like ‘Okay, what are we going to make today?’ And we would just make a song about exactly what’s happening.” In a way, these tracks became an extension of Ellie’s diary, and Jack’s diary as well. Details of their lives and personal relationships bleed into the song production, making the lyrics simultaneously distinctive and relatable. “It’s funny to just expose yourself. But I really enjoy it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“It’s funny to expose yourself. But I really enjoy it and I wouldn’t Have IT ANY OTHER WAY”
One day, Williams dreams of going on tour. “That’s something I’m really trying to work on. I would love to open for someone on tour and be able to travel, meet people and play music.” Now that she’s out of college, she’s ready to release all the music she has and to further the small and friendly community she’s formed around her music. At the same time, Williams also hopes to make time for herself, something that artists often forget to do. “I’m based in L.A., and something that’s really big here is the grind mentality, which I totally respect, but I think it’s also important to advocate for your mental well-being.” In between dropping new indie pop bangers, Williams will also be taking hour-long naps on her couch.
Going forward we can’t wait to see what Williams brings to old and new listeners alike, and you can connect with her Instagram, Spotify and Linktree to keep up with everything she’s done and everything that’s coming!
CHECK OUT ELLIE WILLIAMS’ EP WARNING SIGNS ON SPOTIFY HERE: