Interview: Rella
Tennessee’s next up-and-coming indie-pop star, Rella, is on the rise with her latest single “Maryland.” The singer-songwriter and self-proclaimed breakup song connoisseur sat down with us here at Tongue Tied Magazine to discuss all things new music, life, and breakup songs.
Although Rella has always been musically involved, she took her interest in music to the next level in 2019, releasing her first single, “Intervention.” The track kickstarted her music career and affirmed her desire to continue her pursuit of being an artist.
“Maryland” was an original product of an Instagram challenge by Melanie Baker. The goal was to have a songwriting challenge where artists wrote songs every day for a week. “Maryland” was the fourth song throughout the week.
“If I wouldn’t have been doing that, I would not have sat down and wrote a song that day.”
Rella shared with us that she used a random word generator to help inspire her writing and creation of the track. In terms of creative processes, the artist typically produces her best work alone on the floor of her bedroom, guitar in hand. The song itself is a classic pop song through a country lens, from the perspective of a recovered addict who had messed up due to their addiction. It also serves as an opposite perspective to an unreleased track that serves as a sister song in continuation of the story.
This idea of storytelling within music is something Rella holds closely. She shared that she gets bored writing endless stories about the same person (26 to be exact), and wanted new perspectives to look at, and new people to write new stories about.
Rella has seen massive success throughout the short beginnings of her career as a musician. Already having tracks featured in movies released via Amazon, the artist shares that she feels as if everything was meant to be, and that things like this only affirm her desire to be an artist.
“These are all things I didn’t anticipate when I first decided I’m going to do music. Which tells me I’m meant to be doing it, since I continue having all of this dumb luck.”
I asked the self proclaimed breakup song connoisseur what her go to breakup song was and was met with a top five list ready in hand that Rella shared exclusively with us here at Tongue Tied Magazine.
Last Kiss by Taylor Swift
Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton
You Oughta Know by Alanis Morisette
So Far Away by Carole King
Stay by Sugarland
And if you’re really feeling the mood, Rella even created a playlist with all of her favorites.
For more on Rella, be sure to check out her Instagram @rellagood, and stream “Maryland” here on Spotify.
Interview by: April Bredael
