Kat Harlton
Chart topping musician, vocalist and songwriter Lindsay Ell’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Heart Theory, an incredibly personal 12-track concept album that explores the seven stages of grief was recently released in August.
We had the opportunity to chat with Lindsay about the album, her sound, and career highlights.
Kat: Can you share some of the inspiration behind your highly-anticipated sophomore album “Heart Theory”?
Lindsay: “Heart Theory” was inspired by my journey of healing from various relationships in my past. I didn’t set out to make a concept record, but after I’d written the first few songs it dawned on me that they were following the process that I was going through in life and in therapy called the Seven Stages of Grief. Once I realized that, I leaned in and decided to bring my fans along on the whole journey so that they could join me on my path to acceptance.
Kat: Can you talk about why “wAnt me back” was chosen as the lead single, and what the inspiration was behind the typography of some the album’s tracks (i.e the capital A in wAnt)?
Lindsay: Choosing the first single wasn’t easy. I love every song on the record, but we decided on “wAnt me back” for a few reasons – it has tempo which is important for radio, it has an empowering message that we hope country music fans can relate to and I was so honored to have Kane Brown as a co-writer and wanted to share his first outside cut with the world. The typography was a little Easter egg we included in the track listing. If you look at the sequence, the capitalized letters throughout the titles spell out HEART THEORY, and we thought it was so cool that it was possible without having to change the sequence to make it work.
Kat: Throughout the course of your career, you’ve amassed more than 123 million on demand streams to date and are currently nominated for two 2020 ACM awards–New Female Artist of the Year & Music Event of the Year along with two 2020 CCMA Awards — Female Artist of the Year and Interactive Artist or Group of the Year. What has been a career highlight for you so far? What have you learned along the way?
Lindsay: I am so incredibly honoured anytime my work is recognized by any of the industry organizations and my peers and the fact that my music has been listened to that much is beyond my wildest dreams. I am blessed to get to do what I do every day, and I never take that for granted. And because of that my greatest career highlight thus far is launching the Make You Movement. To be in a position to be able to work to give back and help young victims of domestic and sexual trauma is something that I am so unbelievably proud of.
Kat: Do you have any advice for emerging artists? Or have you ever been given any advice that really stuck with you or made an impact?
Lindsay: As an emerging artist, I think one of the most important things to remember is to not give up. Every day you will hit walls which can be climbed, gone around or knocked down. If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t expect anyone else to. Success takes time and every day is an opportunity for you to improve and learn, so look at each day as a gift and grow.
Kat: I know you’ve been doing a lot of live streams, and of course your “Living wELL” series. How has Covid-19 and the world in general impacted your music and your brand? and has it inspired you to find other ways of reaching out and creating?
Lindsay: The biggest impact Covid-19 has had on my music and brand (and everyone’s) is that I’m not able to go on the road and play these new songs for people. I really miss touring and can’t wait to get back out there, but until then I’ve been doing a ton of digital sessions and content to stay as connected as possible with my fans. I put Living wELL on pause for a minute to catch my breath after the album release and to rethink how I wanted to structure it. I’m hoping to start shooting that again very soon, and I’m also currently developing what I hope will be an amazing live series where I will get to play some of my favorite songs and records of all time. Stay tuned on that!
For more on Lindsay visit: https://www.lindsayell.com