May 27, 2021

Conversations with Ella Martine

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ella Martine.

Hi Ella, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Portland, Oregon in a fairly musical family. My dad used to play the cello and my grandmother always was playing the piano or some other sort of musical instrument. She gave me a violin when I was six, and I played for nine years. I initially was trained in classical violin for seven years, fiddled for a year, and eventually made my way to the Youth Rock Orchestra, where I played until I entered high school.

When I got into high school, I took a hiatus from the violin to teach myself guitar on Youtube. I started writing lyrics and singing, which wasn’t something I had previously been into. Because I had been trained on the violin for so many years and felt a lot of pressure from my parents to perform well, I was nervous to show them this new form of art I was making. For the first time, I was feeling motivated and excited about this new path I was taking and was worried that I wouldn’t be good enough.

By my junior year of school, I had made a collective group of songs and started posting them on Soundcloud without worrying about what other people thought of me. I began to slowly gain some recognition and that’s when I knew I wanted to eventually turn my hobby into a career.

I didn’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket, so I chose a college close to the music industry and enrolled at Chapman University in Orange County. I started connecting with other musicians in and around LA and put out my first official record called Restart. The joy and sense of accomplishment I felt by releasing music motivated me to continue making more music and branding myself as an artist.

I’m currently a senior at Chapman and about to graduate with a degree in screenwriting. Because of the COVID pandemic and my classes being on Zoom, I was able to leave Orange County and live full time in LA. I live in a house with six music producers who have been helping me with new music, including one that’s releasing on May 28, called Love Bomb. For the first time, I really feel like the music I’m making reflects me as a person and as an artist. I feel so connected to the songs I’m putting out, and can’t wait to start this new wave of releasing music.

It’s a difficult and demanding industry, but it’s amazing to be surrounded by such talented people that motivate me to be better.

Congrats on the upcoming graduation and music releases. Has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve definitely had my fair share of struggles along the way; my sophomore year of college I lost myself and the goals I had set for myself. I got distracted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and found myself partying too often and forgetting my priorities: school and music.

I felt like I lost my sense of passion and any motivation I had when I initially moved to the LA area. I eventually took some time and went back to Portland to ground myself and spend time with my family. When I got back, I started working to surround myself with people that made me better and helped me focus on what was important to me.

I don’t regret anything about my life and I think it was a necessary transition going into my adult life. I got to spend time with various types of people and learned a lot about myself in the process, and definitely gained more experience and content for my songwriting.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Over quarantine, I got into the whole Tiktok wave. I started posting my music and found a demographic that it spoke to. I tried to interact with as many people as possible that found my music interesting and would write songs based on prompts they gave me.

At the end of the summer, I noticed that Harry Potter was trending on Tiktok. Just for fun and to see what would happen, I started writing some songs about Harry Potter characters and it really took off. I wasn’t expecting to do anything with the songs, but people wanted to hear them on Spotify, and so I eventually distributed an album with eight songs about the different characters. For some reason, the album reached over a million streams. It was absolutely unexpected but I felt like I had finally accomplished a goal wasn’t sure I would ever reach.

I’m now focused on putting my new music out to show people that I don’t only write songs about Harry Potter characters 🙂

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I look back fondly on the moments in elementary school when my grandpa would pick me up and take me to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins. He would pick me up in his old green car that had such a specific smell that I can still remember. He was the sweetest man and it always made my day seeing him. He would take me back to my grandparent’s house and I would eat dinner with them every Monday and Wednesday night, and then he would drive me back to my house. Now that he’s not here anymore, those memories are extra special.

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Image Credits
Charlie Wold Kyleigh Peterson Aya Rieder

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