Q&A: Ellie Williams "Clueless"
☆ By CARINA SAWARD ☆
DEDICATED TO MAKING THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE - Ellie Williams knows how to tap into the head and heart. Williams showcases her growing musical talent with her latest release and fourth single, “Clueless”. The song focuses on crushing on a best friend, and the clueless emotions of those involved. Her soft tone of voice is complemented and supported by the upbeat chorus, making for a heartfelt flow.
The Los Angeles based singer-songwriter moved to California prior to writing and releasing her debut album, Act My Age, alongside producer Brandon Sammons. Williams recorded the album at the age of 14, and her debut is home to seven melodic tracks and boasts alternative pop throughout and also features the acoustic version of “Luna”.
It was only at the age of eight when Williams began performing her own original songs and began finding her own sound. Growing up in a musical household, Williams’ love of music and performing was able to flourish thanks to this support.
Williams’ music style is inspired by powerhouse artists like Alessia Cara and Alicia Keys, whilst her writing style is inspired by musicians including Julia Michaels and FINNEAS. With her talent and confidence ever-growing, Williams began covering R&B and Blues music with local bands in her hometown, Lawrence, KS. She also performed solo gigs where she played alternative pop music and her success in music has now attained over 500,000 streams.
We had the pleasure of attending a press conference hosted by Soul Talk Magazine to learn more about “Clueless” and what Williams has been up to. Read below to learn more about the inspirations behind her writing, her experience of being a woman in the male dominated music industry and the advice she gives to others who endeavour to succeed in the world of music.
SOULTALK: What's the story behind the song?
WILLIAMS:I was actually looking through my notes app the other day and I realized I wrote the song two years ago. I think in like November or something, so around the same time, but two years ago, and in short, it's just about me having a huge crush on my best friend and not knowing to do about it. That's always a tricky situation to be in because you don't want to make a move and ruin the friendship, but you also don't want to be stuck in that cycle of constantly thinking, well, what could have happened? Like what if I had done something? What would that have looked like all of that? So I think the title “Clueless” is me being clueless, not knowing what to do and them being clueless - like do they even know that I like them? Am I being super obvious?
SOULTALK: Which bands or artists would you love to like play a show or a gig?
WILLIAMS: I think until the end of time or until it happens, fingers crossed, I will always say Alessia Cara. I am obsessed with her. I think working with her in any capacity would be such an honor, whether that's like writing with her would be crazy. Playing a show with her, opening up for her, getting her coffee would be sick. Like I just adore her and would love to be friends with her, but that's like my one idol. I just think she's a really excellent songwriter, musician and person. I think the meaning behind a lot of her songs as well are very powerful, especially that first album that she had.
SOULTALK: What are your personal and musical hopes and dreams now that you're living in LA?
WILLIAMS: Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas, I think there's a music scene anywhere you go. It just varies in size depending on the location. But growing up in Kansas, there's a little bit of a jazz scene there, but it's very small. Like no one really plays pop music. The music scene in Kansas is not anything in comparison to the one in LA or the one in Nashville and New York. So I think moving here was kind of me taking a big leap and having that mindset of, “okay, this is what you're doing professionally. There's no going back to that”. I think has motivated me to meet as many people as I can collaborate with as many people as I can. Just take advantage of every opportunity that I can.
I'm living at home right now, in California but with my mom and in January I'm moving to LA with a couple of my music friends, which I think it's going to be a lot more motivating, especially during this time. So as far as my personal hopes, I hope to make a lot of music and continue collaborating with as many people as possible, which, you know, COVID has made that a little harder to do now but still doing it.
SOULTALK: What would you say to any musician who was scared about going into music industry?
WILLIAMS: This question makes me laugh because being scared about going into the industry is so valid. Like I'm scared, still it's terrifying. I think the idea of exposing yourself through your own music and being super vulnerable and then just pushing that out to the public ear, to like literally everyone on earth, is so terrifying, but also I think the benefit of doing that is I can write a song about an experience that I went through and someone, some stranger overseas could be going through the exact same thing. And then with the release of that song, I've just created a bridge that I didn't even know existed. So I think though it is completely terrifying to go into the music industry, letting your voice be heard and sharing your experiences does a lot more good than living in fear of breaking that wall and doing the thing for lack of a better word.
SOULTALK: How has your upbringing in your home town in Kansas affected your musical vision?
WILLIAMS: Growing up in Kansas, as far as my upbringing again, I think my family dynamic is very interesting because my mom is we tease her about being tone-deaf basically. My dad is very musical and plays the guitar and all of that. I have two older sisters, so we all grew up writing songs together, playing guitar hero, like singing inquires, taking music lessons. My dad would sing us all to sleep, which is the cutest thing ever, but without that, I definitely don't think I would've gotten into music at such an early age. My dad definitely lit that fire beneath me and got me so into it. So as far as like upbringing, that for sure, definitely helped a little bit.
As far as Kansas, because of the jazz music scene that's there, I grew up listening to a lot of classic artists, like Norah Jones, Nat King Cole, Michael Jackson, Patsy Cline, like a lot of artists that I'm sure a lot of us here don't really know or listen to today, but I think subconsciously that's put a huge role in, you know, the music I listened to now, the music I write my R&B influences my jazz influences, why my music sounds the way that it does without me consciously being like, “ah, yes, this chord progression Stevie wonder did. So I'm going to do that”. Because of all of that, I now think a certain way and make music a certain way, I guess if that makes sense.
SOULTALK: What was the first song you ever performed?
WILLIAMS: I took music lessons in middle school from this gentleman named Michael Paul and he had a band called Picket Pawn Jeans, which was a group of older gentlemen playing like jazz standards and everything. He asked me to come sing a song with them when they performed live, and I was probably 12 years old at the time. I think the song that we ended up playing was, “I Don't Know Enough About You” by Peggy Lee. I realized the other day that my dad put a video of it on YouTube and it's so funny because I'm this small child in like a bar with these older men behind me playing jazz. it's just a really, really comical video. That song is still one of my favorites and is my grandpa's favorite song.
SOULTALK: What do you usually do to get inspired?
WILLIAMS: So there are a couple of things I do, especially if I'm feeling particularly uninspired. I love watching movies and trying to take ideas from that and write songs either about the plot or about the characters. I also really like reading poetry and don't read it as much as I should or want to, but when I have the time and the resources, I love poetry books. I love getting into that, which I think helps a lot.
I asked for like a pocket dictionary for Christmas one year and sometimes I'll just flip through it and find a word that I like, and then go off of that. Just word association, see what comes out of it. Those are a couple of things or journaling also helps a little bit.
SOULTALK: How has being a young woman in the music industry affected your experiences? What advice could you give for people like you that are trying to break into the industry?
WILLIAMS: I love this question because it's such an important one to ask. The music industry as a whole is very male-dominated just statistically. That's a situation everyone kind of knows. I think it's definitely been weird how I've become comfortable being the only woman in the room and I’m not saying that that's a bad situation, like the men that I've got to work with are great, super encouraging, great guys. The music we make is awesome and it's a great time all around, but also it's just weird that you have this room full of creators and a lot of times you're the only girl in the room in the entire room, it's just kind of crazy that that is ever a thing.
I think growing up it was really hard for me to find other female creatives. I was taking music lessons from older gentlemen that played jazz and started working with producers, all guys, and meeting songwriters that were all guys, but then moving to LA, I feel very, very fortunate to have met kick ass women in music. Being able to connect with these other women, be able to collaborate with these other women, be able to create rooms that are mostly women making music is so important. It also just provides a great image for young girls that want to go into music as well.
So as far as any advice that I can give, the only advice that I can give is to not to get discouraged being in the music industry, especially for young girls, don't get discouraged when men brush off your talent or your skill or your hard work. Just keep making music, just take everything with a grain of salt, know your worth, know that the music that you're making and I think knowing your worth and knowing that your voice is important and knowing that you have something to bring to the table, you have this unique perspective that no one else has, no one else will ever have is so important to share. So one be confident in yourself, and also encourage other people that are not as confident in themselves and in their craft. I think female empowerment and just being there, being able to support other people in music is really important.
SOULTALK: What is your favorite movie?
WILLIAMS: Such a hard question. I'm a big animated movie gal and if you can tell by the way that I dress, I also like Sandlot. The movie Sandlot is such a good movie. That was like my first crush - Benny Rodriguez. Mulan is also one of my favorite movies because she's just badass. Recently though, Book Smart with Olivia Wilde. Excellent movie, I’ve probably have watched it 23 times and that's not an exaggeration, great movie and great soundtrack.
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