An Inspired Chat with Bell Littell of Hollywood

Bell Littell shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Bell, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Since I’ve moved to LA, a normal day for me is waking up at 5am, feeding my cats and throwing on some soft glam to clock in at Starbucks where I work for about 6-8 hours. During my break, I get on Instagram or Tik Tok to see what the girls are up to and to share the latest song or project I have out. Once I get off work, I drive home where I’ll either start on school work (I’m a full time student at ASU) or I’ll write a song about something I’ve been thinking about or feeling that day or I’ll practice for a show! In the evenings I’ll either go to a dance class, hang out with my cousin, go to a friends live show, go to my own show or I’ll stay in and get cozy with my cats and a movie!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Bell and I write songs about magic, dreams, love and equality. I call my sound, “Mystical Pop and Americana” because I blend a very magical modern Pop soundscape with the grounded Americana style I grew up with in Houston, Texas. Creative expression is how I create magic in my every day life and I really want to share that with others because I feel like there is so much gray area in growing up… but how we decide to color that in and live in it is up to us! I create to process and share my own life but also to advocate and use my voice for the things I care so deeply about such as equality, diversity and representation. I write songs to empower and inspire myself but I put them out to pass that feeling on to anyone who wants or needs it.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I grew up in the most diverse city in America… Houston, Texas. I grew up surrounded by diversity and I loved it. I’m half white and half hispanic and I had a pretty diverse friend group growing up. Most of my friends and I were being raised in the city by either young moms, immigrant parents or both. Some of my friends spoke two languages, some of my friends expressed themselves through their style. A lot of us were dancers. A lot of us wore air force ones and gold hoop earrings and cute stuff like that, the kind of thing we saw our older siblings or cousins or favorite artists wearing that we admired and looked up to. We were a group of friends existing at a lunch table in 8th grade when a group of girls decided to sit one table over from us and make fun of us. They started calling my friends “ghetto” and referring to my hispanic friends as, “the Mexican mafia.” It was painful, rude, racist and uncalled for. All we were doing was hanging out sitting at the same lunch table we always sat at. One of my friends and I went to our dance class after school and we told our dance teacher about what happened and she said, “you’re not ghetto, you’re artistically ghetto.” We were gagged when she said that lol. It felt like all these things that made us who we are were actually our strengths, not something to look down on even if other people were trying to make us feel that way. In a moment where we could have assimilated, made ourselves smaller, we learned to stand up and stand on who we are, where we come from and what we represent. That completely reshaped how I view the world. I’m proud of my friends and I because we exist as we are and we are stronger because of who we are!

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes there was… and somehow giving up is what led me back to what I’d always wanted to do. I had a difficult home life in High School. I continued to write songs in secret but by the time I graduated, I decided to go to Cosmetology school and pursue a career as a hair stylist. I saw it as a more realistic way to create this idea I had of a career built on creativity and community. I had moved in with my boyfriend at the time and I started sharing my songs with him. He was immediately supportive and told me about how I could buy beats on Youtube and how I could record at a music studio his brother knew about for only $100. I thought getting a song produced and recorded required a label and a lottttttt of money. Turns out, it doesn’t. So I booked my first studio session where I recorded the first song I ever wrote which is called “Streetlights” and as soon as I stepped into the recording booth, I knew I would never be able to do anything else. That was where I wanted to be and that is what I wanted to be doing, then and now.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
I had a friend tell me, “your stage presence is literally just you but with the volume turned way up.” I’ve learned that’s the best way to express yourself. Today is all there is and so you should be who you are both through the messy, the magical and the mundane.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that most people get to tell their own story and that they’re proud to tell it. And I hope that, if I’m a part of it, I’m a character who made them feel inspired, supported, and empowered.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/artisticallyghetto
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artisticallyghetto/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@belllittell?si=gU511_XQkeFobpM5

Image Credits
Lissyelle Laricchia