We interview Ingrid Andress – a prolific songwriter, having written for the likes of Charli XCX. We caught up with her at C2C 2019 to chat about her new single ‘Lady Like’ and the pop-country genre…
Full interview with Ingrid Andress on the podcast here.
You released your video yesterday, while at C2C, so that must have been a little crazy?
Yes! Everything was happening at once. It was my first show in London and then a few hours later the music video came out. It actually hadn’t come out yet until I told people on stage, ‘my music video comes out in like an hour.’
What was the specific inspiration behind it, was it specifically timed to coincide with International Women’s Day?
Well I wrote the song without thinking about when I was going to release it, but music video-wise, I did want it to be on International Women’s Day just because of the message of the song. Even though the music video isn’t super over-the-top feminine power.
It’s a more subtle approach…
Yes, which is who I am as a person anyway. I’m never going to tell somebody how they should think so it was more… I wanted it to be visually beautiful.
Was that a song you wrote by yourself?
I wrote it with my friends in Nashville, two of my good guy friends. I know it would be nice to write a girl song with all girl writers but it’s good to get that perspective, because not every male is against females. These guys are very supportive and are all about the women’s movement too. Not everybody is the same and I know loads of my guy friends are very supportive.
How important was it to you to lead out with a song like that?
For us it was kind of a no-brainer, because after one listen to ‘Lady Like’ you know exactly who I am as a person and as an artist. I always appreciate that when other artists release songs that are personal so that I get to know who they are.
So obviously you’ve come from a pop background, you’ve written for Charli XCX, do you think coming over to country, you’ll stick with the pop-country genre less approach?
I think lyrically I’ll always be a Nashville artist, just because it’s hard for me to sing songs that don’t have a story in them but sonically I will forever be a sucker for pop, so I think it’ll always be that combo of Nashville and pop. It’d be music I’d want to listen to.
What did you listen to growing up that influenced that approach?
Well I didn’t decide I was going to do music till I was 16. It was a last-minute decision, because I’d grown up playing piano, and singing a lot but people tell you music is more of a hobby not a career. So it’s not like anyone was telling me not to, but they didn’t know how to make it a career. Everyone said you’re good at sports, stick with that that’s easy, but it wasn’t till I was 16 when I was like ‘I think music’s the only thing I’d want to do for the rest of my life.’
You didn’t grow up in Nashville, you grew up in Colorado, so how did that move happen?
Well I went to college at Berkeley College of Music in Boston and that’s where I discovered my love for songwriting, because I met Kara Dioguardi there, who’s an American Idol judge and an amazing songwriter. So she found me and encouraged me to pursue songwriting, so that’s when I moved to Nashville because it’s the song-writing capital. That’s where I learned my craft, and from there that’s when I started going out to LA and went back and forth, which is where my whole pop-country sound came in.
Did you always know you were going to pursue your own career, instead of going down a pure songwriting route?
Yes, I always wanted to be an artist but I wanted the credibility of a songwriter first, just because as a musician that’s important to me. I always wanted to be able to sing the songs I wanted to sing and not be the artist who has to sing other people’s songs.
2019’s been such a big year for you already, so I guess what’s next?
I really don’t know. I’m releasing more songs till the end of the year, so I won’t put out a full project until next year, but I’m excited. It’s kind of like one chapter at a time, with a new artist you want to get to know the person rather than me just giving you all these songs and be like ‘Listen.’ It’s like a healthy friendship where you slowly get to know them, instead of me dumping my entire life story on you.
Complete the sentence…
Music is… important.
Country music is… timeless.
Ingrid Andress is…a hot mess maybe?
Follow Ingrid Andress on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Her new single is available on Spotify here.
Full interview on the podcast here.
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