We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ainsley Costello. Check out our conversation below.
Ainsley, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I think every single independent artist today is struggling with the current landscape of the music industry (being forced into the box of the ‘content creator’, chasing followers and trends, how we don’t get taken seriously unless we become social media stars, and having to focus on what seems like everything but our music) even if on the outside, it looks like we’re having success. The music industry is in a really broken place right now, and I think so many artists, myself included, are in this weird limbo land where we’re afraid to call out the current issues and demand change because we grew up with and became accustomed to a very binary idea of “write the songs, get the pub deal, get the record deal, go on tour, then BOOM! you’re a superstar” kind of success and are still chasing that. We’re all having ‘come-to-jesus’ moments and grappling with how to sustainably make our dreams come true. At the end of the day, we’re all performers, and we’re really good at hiding it the tough parts and presenting the outgoing, forward facing, branded version of ourselves.
On a more personal level, I think everyone is struggling with growing up. Your late teens and early twenties on the outside are all about looking like you’re having fun, but contending with childhood friendships coming to an end and finding it hard to make new ones, having crunch time sink or swim career moments, and figuring out who we are as people is tough stuff sometimes. I’m definitely going through all of that myself right now, and I wish more people talked about it.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Sure! First off, thanks for having me back to chat with you guys. My name is Ainsley Costello, and I’m a 21 year old pop/rock artist based here in Nashville. I moved here when I was 15, two weeks before the pandemic hit, and have since written over 300 songs, played over 200 shows in 20+ states, released upwards of 15 singles, and I just put out my debut album called “EXLESS” back in May!
I’m really passionate about writing the songs that I didn’t grow up hearing, so on this record I really zeroed in on messages of putting yourself first and saying no, pushing back on the boundary and idea that just because you haven’t been in a relationship by a certain point doesn’t mean you’re weird or uncool, and doing your best and showing up for yourself and your dreams even when the process can be messy and disappointing. It’s an introspective girl power album that sounds like this weird little musical lovechild of Paramore and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was always a loud, glittery, and outgoing kid in school, with my friends, my teachers and parents. I’m really lucky that I’ve always had a great team around me who has nurtured that original seed of my personality and made sure that it made it’s way through everything from puberty to the music industry telling me to be something that I’m not.
The core of who you see of me as an artist is right in line with the precocious little girl I used to be who would get up and sing in front of a group of strangers I’d never met before to the girl who would wear sparkly and over-the-top flamboyant Halloween costumes to school even if it wasn’t cool. My artist brand and persona is absolutely me, t’s just an accentuated version of myself.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
If I could say anything to my younger self, I would say “please try to keep yourself from over-idolizing the people who you look up to, and to be wary putting them on crazy pedestals”. Since moving to Nashville, I’ve had a lot of learning (and unlearning) to do about the definition of “success”.
When I was younger, I didn’t even realize that I was creating ridiculously unrealistic standards for myself based on how I subconsciously studied every single thing about my favorite artists. So when I started to be the ages that those artists were when they had initial success and my story was panning out differently, I felt behind inadequate.
But after lots of self-reflection and talks on this subject in therapy, my key takeaways are as follows:
Someone else’s success is not your failure.
Just because it happened earlier for someone else than it did for you doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
Just because your story is going to be different than you imagined it doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
Every person’s journey is going to be different, and you absolutely can’t compare yourself to an artist that had success before you in an industry that changes so rapidly.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would say that “Ainsley just strives to be a good human”. One of the big foundational pillars that I was raised on was “kind and gracious”, and I carry that with me in everything I do. Whenever I meet someone in the wild, in business meetings, or someone handing me my tea at the coffee shop who is just genuinely kind, I always say out loud to whoever I’m with “ugh I love nice people”.
It truly costs nothing to be lovely and compassionate to everyone you meet. People are going to come to you with their preconceived notions of how they think you act or who they think you are, but if you just meet them with nothing but kindness, then you’ll never have to worry about someone coming after you in ten years when you’re having some success because they have a personal vendetta against you or something you said.
Regardless of if I ending up working or becoming friends with someone, I always remember kind people, and I want everyone to remember the interactions they had with me that way.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
In a way, I think moving to Nashville had this effect.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for all of the opportunities that have come my way because I live in Nashville. There is no doubt that I wouldn’t be the artist I am or have the resume I do today if I had just stayed in my hometown of Seattle and waited out Covid to move here. I’ve met some amazing people, friends, and songwriters/producers who have immensely shaped my artistic identity.
But I moved to Nashville two weeks before Covid hit which definitely skewed my experience, and because Nashville is so artist/entertainment centric, the community can feel disingenuous and overly competitive sometimes. I don’t feel like I’ve truly found all of my people here – I’ve definitely found some of my people who are so special and magical to work with so that’s not to discount those relationships.
There’s a lot to love about Nashville, but it’s not my forever place and that’s okay. Dreams change and evolve over time and I think a huge part of life is living through the things that you wanted so badly and understanding that they don’t always turn out the way you want. When that happens, it’s time to pivot find a new dream.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ainsleycostello.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ainsleycostello_official/
- Twitter: https://x.com/ainsleymusic07?s=21&t=Cdlwt7fItMhvU3WNXqEIQA
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ainsleycostelloofficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ainsleycostello
- Other: TIKTOK:
@ainsleycostello Spotify Link to EXLESS: The Album
https://open.spotify.com/album/0d7fT4sKk4uk0kZDAi9CiR?si=rFHhgCJ4SZWj64KrIJ7lyw
Image Credits
Bill Bungard
Phantom Power Music
