This day in age, getting discovered by the music industry mostly happens online. Whether it’s YouTube, Instagram or another site, many of today’s stars get their big break thanks to these sites. For Elle Winter, her journey into music started a bit differently.
Growing up in New York, she watched the pop stars of her time shine and knew that she wanted the same path for herself. She says, “I honestly was always singing and I would watch and study videos of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and all those females that were so popular at the time when I was growing up and living in New York. I had so many opportunities to kind of express myself, so I signed up for vocal lessons when I was four years old and then I took an acting course in New York at the age of seven. The acting course really drove me to work hard in pursuing singing and acting because we would have showcases at the end of the semester at school and agents and managers would come, which really motivated me.”
On top of these pop powerhouses, Winter also looks to artists like Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Beyonce. “I love Bruno Mars. He’s one of the best performers. I love his music. I love that he stays true to himself. Just by what’s going on in the industry, he always just puts out what’s true to him. I also adore Ed Sheeran as a songwriter, he just takes me to a special place. I love Beyonce too. I just watch her videos all day. I love studying artists like that cause I find that their drive and discipline are so inspiring, you know?”
Elle Winter took all these personal inspirations and started crafting her own sound when she was just nine years old. “I have videos where I would just sing into the PhotoBooth camera on my computer when I was really really young. I used to diary, and just write a lot in different forms. I really love writing stories. But I used to take fictional stories about love and all that and turn them into songs. I would kind of take songs that already existed and write my own lyrics to them. I really fell in love with writing. I started going to piano lessons, but instead of learning piano, my teacher and I used to just write songs together. He took me to my first studio in New York at nine and that’s when I really started putting out music that told my stories. I think my first song was called ‘Awkward’ and it was about a boy I had a crush on in fourth grade.”
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