Rising Stars: Meet Ella Martine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ella Martine.

Hi Ella, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and got a very early start in music, picking up the violin at age five. I wasn’t expecting anything to come from it, obviously being so young. Eventually, after hours of practicing every day for years, high school came around and I was so burnt out of the violin that I just put it down altogether.

I was always into folk music; loved the gentle melodies of the guitar and soft vocals, so I picked up my dad’s old guitar and taught myself how to play on Youtube. I wrote some songs here and there, but never took it too seriously until the end of high school. From there, I decided to move to Los Angeles, mainly for school, but also to be close to the music industry.

I met some amazing people and had a great five years there, collaborating and making records that helped me establish myself as an artist. I only moved to Nashville in January, so I’m very new to the area here. LA was great for me, but as a singer-songwriter who relies heavily on folk influence, it was no longer the place for me.

I’m very happy with my decision to move, and can’t wait for collaborations and shows to follow.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. LA has a lot to offer, and it’s easy to get lost in all of it. It’s a very competitive environment, which can both hurt and help you, depending on the people you surround yourself with. When I first got to LA, I didn’t have my priorities straight and didn’t prioritize my health, which took a toll on my music.

I had to reevaluate everything and relearn some healthy habits that my parents had instilled in me from an early age. I think the pandemic allowed me time to step back, spend time with family, and ground myself again. I decided that I was going to do the music that I wanted to do, and not follow the trends that inhabit LA, hence moving away and finding solace in what I’ve always wanted to create, which is the folk style of music.

I picked up the violin again last year and have been incorporating it into my music, which makes me feel like I’m back on the track I was meant to be on.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have sort of an eclectic group of hobbies. Obviously, the big one is music, playing shows, collaborating, etc. Another huge one is film. I went to Chapman University and got my degree in screenwriting, placing an emphasis on the horror genre.

The juxtaposition is pretty intense, making incredibly sad music and writing graphic horror screenplays, but they’re two things I love and one day would love to incorporate them together. Ideally, I’d love to write songs for movies; some haunting score that really ups the intensity of a scene. I’d also love to write narrative screenplays for horror video games, like Last of Us or Resident Evil. Something like that.

Over quarantine, I started a project of writing songs about the characters in Harry Potter. It was just a fun side thing to pass the time but turned into something much bigger. Harry Potter was trending on Tiktok, so I hopped on it, not expecting anything. It really blew up from there, I recorded the tracks on a USB mic connected to my computer and produced them in GarageBand, all from my bed in SoCal.

They’re not exactly mixed or mastered well by any means, but people loved the raw aspect of them and blew up my Spotify streams. I’m very thankful for that, regardless of what the content of the songs was. I’m looking forward to, and very proud of, this new EP that’s releasing currently. The first song, ‘gasoline’, came out on February 25th.

The second song, ‘nightingale’ is set to release on March 18th.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’m a little too new to Nashville to have any advice for anyone out here yet, but from my experience in LA, it’s all about finding the people that believe in you and want to grow with you.

There are people that I met out there that just want to give you false promises in hopes of piggybacking on your later success, or worse, taking what little you may already have. Good people want to help you and want your loyalty and friendship, and just overall appreciation in return.

My mentor in LA was Dru DeCaro, and I probably haven’t given him enough credit, although I try, because he is just one of the best people in the entire world. I owe a lot to him, and if any Nashville locals make their way out to LA anytime soon, he’s the guy to know.

You’ll thank me later.

Contact Info:

• Email: chris@ellamartinemgmt.com
• Website: https://linktr.ee/ellamartinemusic
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ella.martine
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ella_vdm
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/EllaMartineMusic
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ella-van-der-meulen
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ellamartine?lang=en

Image Credits
Jake Westby (@jakewestby on IG), Charlie Wold (@staywold), Christian Sarkine (@christian.x), Liam Haehnle (@liamhaehnle), and Claire Loudis (@claire.dcp)