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 INSIDE THE MIND OF ELLIE-GRACE SUMMERS‘From Tennessee to California, Rolling Stone takes a trip inside the world of country pop’s latest superstar as she begins work on her sophomore album’It’s a bright May morning in Los Angeles, California as the sun beats down on the busy freeways of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Pasadena, it’s 7:45am and the traffic is almost at a standstill as the majority of California locals are heading out to work, in some cities people leave early for work to beat the morning traffic but the highway has been jammed for the past hour which isn’t all too unfamiliar to the locals, it’s of course a busy city most known as the heartbeat of celebrity and fame, just looking at the perfectly primed men in suits sat in stunning vehicle’s which cost more than my home as they pass by every five minutes and I sometimes worry that for those people who aren’t from the United States and only see this side of us on television and newspapers that they perhaps think that this is an honest representation of the country that we inhabit, of course this is not the case and Los Angeles or California as a whole isn’t how we should be seen by a distance and the overriding hope is that we aren’t seen in this light.
At 8:25am, despite the roads being less jam packed than they were forty minutes ago things are still moving relatively slowly but I’ve finally managed to make my way into the main San Fernando Valley highway, it’s a beautiful scene as I’ve got the Verdugo Mountains behind me, getting smaller but no less breath-taking in the distance and the stunning hills in front of me where the homes are beautifully framed by the greenery of the trees, it’s locally known as the Valley and as I finally arrive beyond the cacophony of large luxury homes that could only really be afforded by millionaire celebrities or indeed the leader of the free world it’s distracting to drive through the main streets for the first time as you constantly find yourself staring of the admittedly dreamy beauty of these homes, but it’s further beyond this bunch of visually beautiful homes where I’m destined, it’s about a seven minute drive from the let’s say more high-end homes and it’s a relatively small area where Ellie-Grace calls home, I arrive to the opened gates of her home as I’m greeted by the 19 year-old singer-songwriter’s large smile, as I park my car on the pebbled driveway Ellie steps down from the front porch and jogs across the luscious green grass in her bare feet and what she would later go on to describe as her lazy clothes.
She smiles as she meets me, “Hi, so you found me then?” she lets out an infectious giggle “It’s a pretty secluded part of town.” she walks across to the front porch and pushes open the door before ushering me inside to what looks like a quite unique and cosy home, it’s evident to me even from the early stages of this encounter that the Tennessee born youngster is somewhat of a free spirit, the rooms aren’t perfectly decorated which after visiting many musicians homes in the past is quite a surprise, it’s evident already that this is a home chosen by Ms. Summers and certainly appears to be decorated to what you’d imagine would be her tastes, we make our way through the thin hallway which has floods of photographs of family and friends, one photograph in particular caught the eye which featured Ellie and a couple of friends that happen to also be in the same career paths, it’s a photograph of Ellie with Isabel Merjos, Jennifer Armstrong and Mandy Williams.
Arriving into the lounge I’m quickly struck by the number of comfort items, more cushions that are likely to be needed but there’s an instant warmth and cosiness that is obvious, Ellie sits down on the sofa and encourages me to sit down too, “I’ve never really done any of these sort of cover stories, I’m so nervous” she joyfully giggles before folding her arms, “So let’s get down to business” she says in a mock serious voice and the carefree nature of her character continues as within less than ten minutes of meeting her I already feel myself rooting for her;
It’s a beautiful area that you live in and it’s definitely not what I was expecting when I was told about this assignment.
“Yeah there’s some pretty amazing sights which is essentially the main reason why I chose to live in this area, I like landscapes and nature so it’s sorta my ideal place to live really, it reminds me a lot of my hometown and the serenity of where I grew up which is what made me fall in love with the area. I’m not so sure what people should expect *laughs*”
Well you know, 19 year old celebrity living in California, there’s an obvious image that I’m sure many people would jump to when they hear those details.
“Your probably right, I wanted to live somewhere that reminded me of where I come from, obviously it was an important thing for me to move out to Los Angeles and find somewhere to live in order to kinda begin my career and put all of my focus on becoming a professional musician, I was shown a couple of places in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica at first and I was like ‘Geez, I can’t live here’, I think I would feel extremely out of place if I live out in that part of California but it was kinda like love at first sight when I was shown a couple of homes here in The Valley.”
You’d have felt out of place in Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, why exactly is that?
“It’s just not what I’d call my natural environment, you know? I’m country girl, I love nature. I’d much rather take a walk in a woodland area rather hanging out down by the beach *She smiles as she brushes her hair out from her eyes* I think this is as close to my hometown as I’ll ever get in California and it’s peaceful and I feel a lot more comfortable in my surroundings here.”
So you don’t conform to the natural stereotypes of California life then?
“I don’t really feel like I conform to any real stereotypes, I mean I do spend quite a lot of time in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills because that’s where a lot of my friends live and it’s a lot more fun out in those places but I can only take the liveliness of those places in short bursts, I’m definitely not used to the nightlife and the energy of those places and that’s why I choose to live in this area away from all of that”
And what about the incredible homes that I passed on my way here, I half-expected you to be living in one of those places.
“*She laughs* Oh yeah, they’re really something aren’t they? Whenever I take a walk I find myself just daydreaming about living in one of those places, Whenever Hayden comes out here I deliberately make us walk close to those places and I’m like ‘Oh wouldn’t it be incredible to live in one of those things, they’ve got birch trees in their gardens’ *She laughs* He thinks I’m a bit of a nature freak and I’m pretty sure that he’d just be bored if he lived out in this area.”
So does it have a negative effect the fact that you don’t live in the heartbeat of LA?
“Not really, it’s not too far from here anyway it just happens to be kinda secluded but I think it’s quite good to sometimes have that space, I’m sure that it’s a good thing that there’s a small distance between where we both live and it’s a nice change whenever we’re together, sometimes the quietness here can be a little boring and sometimes the liveliness of where he lives can be a little too much that it’s nice to come out here and relax a little more, I think it’s a pretty good divide.”
People move a lot more quickly in the modern day, recently we’ve seen pregnancy’s and engagements within the industry involving people of a similar age to you, do you like that nature?
“I think it’s important for people to move at a pace that’s comfortable with them, some people want to be engaged and settled down before they reach a certain age and that’s great, I've got friends of a similar age who are engaged and I have friends back home that even at the age of 20 they've already got their own family. Personally I don’t feel the need to rush into things and that’s not in my nature, I’m 19 years old and I’ve got a lot of growing up to do so I don’t feel the need to rush any of that, I just want to enjoy the next few years of my life without any of that sort of worry, I don't feel ready to fully grow up yet and I want to make the most of being a 19 year old.”
And so you’re saying that your content with how things are in your life right now?
“Yeah I’m definitely happy with how things are right now, I like to take things as they come rather than planning too much, but right now I’m gonna focus on my career and see where that may take me, I’ve got great friends that I adore and I’ve got a lifestyle that I wouldn’t change for the world. I’m in a great relationship that I feel will lead somewhere and I don’t plan on ruining that by getting engaged or pregnant, I think I’d like to be at least 25 before I even begin to think about those kind of steps, there’s a lot of things to focus on and I think that right now that is music and friendship, things are wonderful and I hope that it doesn’t change anytime soon.”
It seems like a rather mature way to look at things. At 19 years old what was it like moving from your small hometown into a place like California?
“The first two weeks were some of the most confusing and scary weeks of my life, I gotta say that I felt completely overwhelmed by almost being thrust into the spotlight in the way that I was, there was a burden in the early stages of my time in California that I was struggling to deal with and those first two weeks were incredibly lonely but I stayed strong and was lucky enough to become friends with people that really took the time to make me feel comfortable, without them then I don’t think I’d have lasted *she smiles*”
The transition must have been a shock for you, what was it like growing up in your hometown?
“It was a bizarre sort of flip flopping type of thing when I was growing up, some days were lonely and painful but some days I felt like a star, In high school I wasn’t really popular, I just kinda blended in. But talent competitions in our hometown is where I felt so comfortable, all of that attention on me was something that I kinda loved and it took away those self-conscious feelings that I always had.”
Surely that sort of attention isn’t anywhere near the attention that you feel now?
“That’s true, but honestly I’ve haven’t felt all that much attention. I think the first few weeks in Los Angeles there seemed to be a lot of media attention on me but after the first few weeks I feel like there hasn’t been all that much attention on me, it’s nice though I like the fact that I don’t have people following me with camera’s whenever I leave my house is great. I kinda feel like I did when I was in high school, I just sort of blend in and go relatively unnoticed these days *she laughs* I think I much prefer it this way.”
But you must feel pretty proud with what you achieved with your debut album?
“Yeah of course! I’m so pleased with how that album turned out and I like to think that I surprised a lot of people with the nature of my songs. I think a lot of people were expecting to hear straight up pop songs that were custom made for a young fanbase but the reaction from people about the album was great, it’s always nice to surprise people.”
Not just the critical reaction but the commercial success was certainly an unexpected joy I’d imagine, with the album selling five million copies.
“It’s kinda like, ‘Did my album really go Diamond?’ It’s not something I actually realised until the end of year charts made it one of the best-selling albums. It was my debut album and it sold more copies than I could have ever dreamed of and it’s amazing that it became anywhere near as successful as it did. I still struggle to believe that it sold that many copies but it's a wonderful feeling to know that many people even paid attention to me and my music.”
Does this put more pressure on you when you start to work on the follow-up to your debut, would you be expected to do better or do you think that it perhaps takes the pressure off?
“I’d like to take my time with working on the follow-up to that album, there’ll maybe be more attention on it in the build-up to its release, but the honest truth is that I haven’t even begun to think about the pressure that my sophomore album may be under, it’s difficult for many people when it comes to the second album but I’m pretty sure that when I do finally start to record the follow-up then I’ll be recording it with a freedom and hopefully without any real pressure surrounding it, I’m hoping to create some sort of legacy and these early pieces of work are what I consider to be the most important”
Your first album was praised for the maturity of the songs that were featured on it and the fact that they were entirely written by yourself, will you continue to be the sole songwriter for your work?
“Definitely, without doubt. I think it’s important that anything I release is solely my own work. I’m open to collaboration on other projects but as far as my own albums go then I feel that it always has to be my own songwriting, my own emotions and feelings that I put across in the work, I think it makes the album listening experience a much more valuable thing to know that the person singing the songs felt ever word of what they’re singing at some point in their life and that’s what being an artist is all about in my opinion.”
I see, and what sort of influences have you taken on more since your debut album and what will be main influences on your sophomore album?
“I think the primary influence on my work is whatever I’m going through at the time, for the next album I think it will tackle the subject of growing up a lot more and that’s perhaps where the focus will lie, in terms of artistic influences then I’d say that it would be inspired an old fashioned selection of music, recently I’ve been almost devouring the music of the likes of Stevie Nicks and Bob Dylan, most recently I’ve been listening to ‘Blood On The Tracks’ a lot and there’s some songs that I’ve recently written that you would look at as being directly influenced by that record in particular.”
It’s rare to see a 19 year old girl influenced by that type of music.
“I’m most influenced by what people describe as old-fashioned music. I grew up in a house were country and folk music were played a whole lot and one of the first songs that I ever learnt was the Bob Dylan song 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go' and I remember having my family listen to me singing that song, it was scary *she laughs*, But that’s where my influences mostly come from, any music that I grew up listening to is the type of music I listen to now. It’s important for us to understand how influential certain artists are rather than just looking at it and saying ‘Oh I ain’t listening to that, how old is that dude, like 74?’ *she laughs* I think it’s important to understand the history of music.”
Our time is up now, we look forward to your future releases with extra interest.Edited by user 08 May 2012 02:58:34(UTC)
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