London-based Soul/pop songstress Ella McCready possesses a freshly bright & innovative sound that centres around her powerfully captivating vocal range.
Hailing from a musically influenced family, Ella has been singing & creating music since she can remember. With creativity running through her veins, Ella began her career gigging professionally at just 14 years old.
Not long ago, Ella released the soulful pop anthem “Fine On My Own” & has kindly taken the time to speak with Fierce & Fabulous Revolution regarding her latest single. You can check out what Ella said below.
Hey Ella, thank you so much for this interview. Can you start by telling the readers a little bit about yourself?
Ella: Of course! So I’m a singer/songwriter based in London, I’m a new independent artist and I’ve just released my third single! I was born into music – my dad is a musician – and so I started gigging professionally when I was just 14. Since then I’ve gigged all over the country with cover bands, and it’s amazing fun, but I realised, ‘I don’t want to spend my whole life only singing other people’s songs – better start writing my own!’
When did you first discover your passion for music?
Ella: My love of music, and singing particularly, is something I’ve often been asked to put a start date to, but really the running joke is that I pretty much came out of the womb singing! My mum tells me that my first ever public performance was when I was 4 years old, at a nursery school parents event, and I spontaneously decided to get up on a table and serenade everyone with ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’. I can’t say I remember it so I won’t put it down as a highlight of my career, but it certainly sounds like something I would do… As I say, music is very much in my blood, so I started young. I was having piano lessons when I was 4 and being brought up on everything from Beethoven to Eminem! I actually think my parents’ incredibly eclectic taste in music is largely what I have to thank for inspiring me to pursue music as a career.
Have you always known that you wanted to pursue a career within the music industry?
Ella: When I was a kid I wanted to be a dustbin woman. No joke. I thought it looked really fun when they’d ride around on the back of the rubbish trucks (back in the days when health and safety allowed it). Then I really wanted to be a writer for a while, which I suppose in some ways is exactly what I’ve become, but back then I wanted to write teen fiction and be the next Jacqueline Wilson. However, alongside all of these pretty varied ambitions, music was always such a huge part of my life that I think it was inevitable that I’d eventually land on singing.
How would you describe your musical style to someone unfamiliar with your music?
Ella: It’s pop with a soulful influence. I’ve been singing in soul bands for years, spending my Saturday evenings performing Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, and I love to ‘belt out’ a tune. So I think all of my writing has at least a pinch of soooooul.
You recently released the brand new single “Fine On My Own”. How did the inspiration for this song come together?
Ella: As you’ll gather from the song, the story behind it isn’t exactly a happy one. It’s all about escaping a relationship that’s no good for you. That’s exactly what I’d done when I wrote the song and it felt truly liberating – quite simply, I wanted to share that feeling with others.
How would you compare the creative process behind this song compared to your previous releases?
Ella: The process itself was similar to the others in that it was a collaboration that involved me focussing on lyrics and melody, whilst the guys at Moonwalker Music bounced off me with ideas and the writing of the instrumental. The real difference was that I found this one came more easily than others and the process was quicker – perhaps because the subject matter meant more to me and was therefore something I found easier to write about – it just sort of poured out of me.
What does this song personally mean to you?
Ella: The subject matter is obviously very personal. To me this song is about freedom, or at least, the discovery of freedom. I wrote it at a time when I’d managed to turn a horrible situation into a whole new sense of self-worth and self-love. I’m very proud of that and I’m also very proud of the fact I managed to take that self-love and write a song with it.
If listeners could take anything away from this song, what would you like it to be?
Ella: To understand their own strength. To know that they don’t need anybody else in order to know their own worth and to feel empowered enough to love who they are.
Finally, is there a message that you would like to share with the readers of Fierce & Fabulous Revolution?
Ella: ‘Fine On My Own’ is out now, you can find the music video on my Youtube page, and there’ll be another fierce and fabulous single out in June that I’m super excited to share with you all! Secondly, be you. Unapologetically. Be you because you love you, and the right people will do the same.
You can check out the official video for “Fine On My Own” below or listen via Spotify here.
Ella McCready: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram.
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