Ella Galvin’s “Spare Me” Delves into the Depths of Love’s Complexities
Rising singer and songwriter Ella Galvin reveals her new single, “Spare Me,” a poignant and soul-stirring single that acts as a sneak peek into Galvin’s upcoming debut EP, due out later this year.
Built on Ella’s effortlessly commanding vocals, “Spare Me” has an intoxicating raw energy that lures you in. The single weaves a sonic tapestry of pop, soul, jazz and rock influences in a way that manages to feel both finely-tuned and improvisational.
“I wrote this song in one sitting and never changed anything about it. It feels like the most genuine song I’ve ever written,” Galvin says.
At its core, “Spare Me” is a song of heartache and introspection, exploring the complexities of love and emotional unavailability.
“It’s a sad and bittersweet song about loving someone who is emotionally unavailable,” Galvin says. “It’s about letting myself have feelings for someone and then questioning whether it was worth it. Would it have been better to have never loved to spare myself the inconvenience?” Yet, amidst the melancholy, there is a glimmer of hope as Ella embraces the realization that she doesn’t have to spare herself from love's tumultuous journey.
On her upcoming EP, Galvin masterfully combines her genre-blending musical influences with diaristic storytelling that captures the charm, discomfort and introspection of being a young, queer woman in today’s world.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t yet familiar with you, can you tell us what inspires your creative persona and artistic style?
[ELLA]: One of my biggest inspirations is Amy Winehouse. I love her vulnerability, her lyrics and her raw and really soulful voice. She's a big inspiration for me, but I take a lot of inspiration from Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire. A lot of the older classics, but also, more recently, I've been listening to a lot of Elizabeth McAlpine, whose lyricism I love, and Remi Wolf has a really cool style. I love Sabrina Carpenter. There's so many different influences that I have in there, so I feel like it's so much more specific songs than it is artists because so many artists are so multifaceted.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Say if someone hasn't heard of your music yet, which song would you introduce them to that best encapsulates your artistic growth and maturity?
[ELLA]: I think I would say “Pink Shoes” because I was able to experiment with a couple of different elements when I was working on that song, and I think that's what I want people to see in my artistry is that I want to keep experimenting and trying new things.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You released your latest single “Spare Me” that is a sneak peek off your upcoming debut EP. What is the inspiration behind the track and what did the creative process look like?
[ELLA]: The inspiration behind the track was that I was seeing this person who lives really far away. It would never work out, but I wanted to write a song capturing the feeling of wanting to be with someone that's unavailable, but figuring out if it's worth it because I'm going to be sad afterwards. So is it better to not involve myself at all or to have those fun experiences?
[UNPUBLISHED]: Does “Spare Me” set the tone for the rest of the EP, and if so, what can listeners expect from this new era of music?
[ELLA]: With this one, I've been experimenting with a lot of sounds, especially on this new project. My next single coming out on April 12 is a totally different type of genre, so I’m excited to hear what the feedback is between both of those because they're so different.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What themes or narratives does the EP explore?
[ELLA]: I think it's a lot of growing and learning and having experiences that a lot of people in their early 20s have when you first got out of college, you're living in a new place by yourself, trying to find love and friends and being happy and what that means to you and what you want to do with your life. I think that's hard and there's a lot of different struggles within that. But a lot of those feelings are topics in my songs as well.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your favorite song off the EP and why do you love this song? Is there a certain lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
[ELLA]: I honestly want to say “Spare Me” because I wrote the song in one night which I never did before, but that one was just such a real raw feeling for me. It was the first song that I put out that was clearly about my experience with someone and it was scary, but it's really fun and it's a super important step to take. I also have another song that's super pop-punk, which is not what I usually do, so that one was really fun.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Did you take any creative risks or experiment more either lyrically or sonically with your new music since your previous releases?
[ELLA]: Definitely sonically. I'm experimenting with a lot of different genres. I've never really wanted to put myself in a box by saying I only do pop or I only do rock or singer-songwriter stuff. There's so many different types of music that I love and that I want to create. I'm experimenting with all these different types of music and hopefully through that, I can find a way to mash them all together.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What was the recording process like for the EP? Any fun memories you’d like to share?
[ELLA]: During the “Spare Me” process, I had just gotten the flu and I didn’t know that I had the flu. I was recording vocals and kept having to sit down because I was about to pass out. I think in a way it helped bring out the pain in my voice, because I was sick and not having a good time. It was sad because singing is something that comes to me so naturally, so having a hard time recording vocals was like, oh god, what's happening?
[UNPUBLISHED]: What are you most excited for listeners to experience for this EP?
[ELLA]: I'm interested to hear what people say about how different the songs are, because I feel like that's something that not a lot of artists do. I just want people to feel empowered listening to some of the songs and feel less alone because there's so many experiences that we all have as humans that are the same even if they're different situations. A lot of them are at the core the same. I'm really excited to see how people interpret the songs and how they can relate them to their own lives and connect with them.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Unpublished?
[ELLA]: I’m definitely really excited for this project. It will come out in early summer and then hopefully, doing more shows in different cities other than New York is something that will happen later this year, so stay tuned.
