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Daily Inspiration: Meet Willa Cipolla

Today we’d like to introduce you to Willa Cipolla.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a songwriter, guitarist, singer, and producer. I have been songwriting, performing, playing guitar, and singing since the age of 6, and began writing and learning to produce music more seriously while in isolation for the COVID-19 pandemic. The mental struggles that the world was facing during the pandemic led me to start writing and releasing music to the public, in hopes that it could offer comfort and peace during such a frightening time.

Therefore, I felt inspired to write an album based on the core themes of the human experience and how our understanding of these themes can help us better understand our thoughts and emotions, cope with our life experiences, and adopt a new understanding of our lives as fundamentally resilient human beings.

While attending Centre College, I spent a great deal of time learning how to improve myself as a musician and producer, later resulting in me writing and producing the entirety of my debut album, “Out of Your Mind.” I conducted a study to learn about “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy” (as well as going through the therapy myself) and later used my findings/experiences to inspire the content of this debut album –both lyrically and instrumentally.

My passion for music, psychology, and sound healing have allowed me to use music as a way to heal people and help them find a sense of peace of mind. The songs themselves incorporate sound healing and instrumentals to put the listener in a peaceful, meditative state of mind, while the lyrics help listeners understand/relate to the ideas in the therapy –which involve our day-to-day lives.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Although the road has not been smooth or straight and narrow, I am grateful for every step of the way.

A lot of my struggles involved finding ways to prioritize my passion for music and the creation of my album while still managing my heavy school workload. The biggest struggle, however, was the immense amount of time spent isolated in the studio –usually resulting in a 10-14 hour workday.

It is not easy to isolate oneself for such long periods of time every day, but my passion for the music and album helped push me through and make all of those hours spent working enjoyable.

As the creation of the album progressed, I began to collaborate with other musicians which not only reduced my time isolated in the studio but also helped me begin to get my music out into the world by performing and collaborating with other artists.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My favorite aspect of my music career is my work as a songwriter and producer. My music is known for its significant lyrical depth and musical complexity, with genre-defying songs that are extremely engaging and multi-faceted. The soundscapes that I create aim to guide listeners into a new, ethereal and entrancing realm.

My music encapsulates my favorite elements of nearly every genre: psychedelic rock (largely inspired by The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and The Grateful Dead), elements of classical/opera music (studied in college), folk/country instruments & storytelling (I was in a folk band for 4 years), jazz traditions and improvisation (inspired by my father who is a professional musician and is featured on my debut album in two songs), combining styles of standards/older music (such as Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Claude Debussy, etc.) with a more contemporary R&B style (such as Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean, FKJ, Rex Orange County, etc.).

I plan to continue creating new styles of music, and ways to use music to help people relate to one another, and open themselves up to new ideas, perspectives, and ways to understand the mind.

By combining so many different elements of nearly every genre, my music has taken on a shape of its own –setting me apart from other artists and styles of music, and creating a sound that is very unique to me.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
The three mentors who played the biggest part in the creation of my debut album are Larry Bitensky, Daniel Worley, and my father, John Cipolla. My songwriting lessons with Dr. Bitensky taught me to use the theoretical and experiential background from my therapy study, as inspiration for the composition of the songs in my debut album. This involved laying out the framework of what each song in the album was going to be about and how I planned to express that structurally & lyrically.

I took music production lessons with Dr. Worley, as well as worked with him on the album production specifically. He guided me through the process of recording, producing, and mastering professional-level songs on a digital audio workstation, and taught me how to create instrumental compositions that would complement and showcase the album’s lyrical content. He also gave me unlimited access to work in the college’s studio, which allowed me to work on my album for as long as necessary, free of charge.

My father, John Cipolla, has been my biggest supporter and mentor for my music since the first day I picked up a guitar. He is a professional musician as well, which has been incredibly helpful in multiple ways. When I first started producing music, he generously allowed me to use all of his studio equipment. He has never hesitated to dedicate his time, equipment, expertise, and musical talents to help me develop as a musician and create the album. He is also featured playing saxophone on two of the songs on the album!

My parents never complained about me recording at 3 am or constantly practicing loud vocal exercises and monotonous guitar scales… in fact, they say it makes them happy to hear me dedicating myself to my craft even in the late hours of the night. My dad always jokes that he can hear me practicing from all the way down the street.

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2 Comments

  1. Bob Cutick

    August 19, 2022 at 6:42 pm

    This girl is going places. She has all the makings of a star: wonderful artistic taste, ambition, a willingness to experiment and a beautiful stage presence.I look forward to hearing more from her.

    • Lin Saberski

      September 25, 2022 at 12:15 am

      I’ve listened to Willa Cipolla’s album again and again and find something new each time. Her music is not easily identified with a specific genre, and that’s a big plus for me. I look forward to more music from this budding talent.

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