If you’re looking to find growth, inspiration, and tranquility in the music you listen to, you may find Eleri Ward up your alley, more specifically, her recent single “Will I Be The Sun” released on March 20th. Eleri is a NYC-based artist with a background in theater, later moving into being a singer-songwriter.
NYS Music had the wonderful opportunity to interview Eleri over Zoom to discuss her career and what this new single means for her.
Mandy Lain: I’ve done a little bit of research, you’re like a jack of all trades.
Eleri Ward: Yeah, actually, I was one of the alumni panelists for the Berklee career jam, and I was on a musical theater panel, and the moderator asked each of us what we do, and what we have done since graduating, and my answer was like way longer than anyone else’s because I’ve been all over the place.
ML: That’s impressive, having that musical theater background, and then like going into your songs and the way you write them makes a lot of sense in the best way. So tell me about you?
EW: Increasingly so spiritual when it comes to my creative practice as an artist. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve just understood my creativity and where my inspiration comes from. In regard to when I was younger, I was like, “I don’t know where it comes from, it just happens.” Now I have a more pinpointed understanding of what that is, and for me, it really just has to do with like we are all vessels for the universe in these different ways, and the universe uses us for our specific talents.
I have just kind of just become more and more open to being a more accessible vessel. In that way, it feels less merciful and unknown; it’s like, “No, I know what this relationship is now.”
ML: That’s beautiful, and I think you’re doing a really great job of showing that too. I went through some of your discography, and it’s very emotional; you can feel the connection. What inspired “Will I Be The Sun”?
EW: Yeah, I was home in Chicago, and my parents’ home in Bridgeport, Illinois, and it was August, so like you know the cicadas were out and about. I just remember sitting in my parents’ living room, and they have a baby grand piano in there that I take full advantage of when I’m home. So I just sat down, and I don’t really know where this core voice came from when I plop down on the piano, and my hands go somewhere, and I’m like, “That’s something.”
It was about a month or so before my debut album, Internal Rituals, was coming out, and I just felt this feeling of, after being known for my acoustic songs, my debut album is completely different because it is my voice. It’s not a project, it’s me. There was this little voice that was saying ‘I don’t know if people are going to get it or get me.”
At the root of it, I know what I have to do for myself regardless of the outcome. I wrote it in maybe 20 minutes. It came out really quickly; it was just me and the piano.
ML: I love it; everyone refers to their work as a project. I love how you said it wasn’t a project, it was you, that alone is powerful. It seems like there is such a deep reflection of who you are. In your statement, you talked about your transition through music. How does “Will I Be The Sun” move you forward?
EW: Every piece of music that I release is an offering of some kind; this one was more vulnerable. I have no problems with laying it all out there. What I do have hesitation with sometimes is expressing my moments of doubt; they’re a little bit alien to me. I don’t like questioning or doubting; I really ground myself in my truth.
So when I have those moments of feeling unstable and the ground beneath me is moving in every direction, and I have no idea where I am going. This song offers that part of myself, which is unique among other releases of mine. Sonically and emotionally, it exists in its own space. I don’t think any of my music lives in the same place as the others.
You’re not alone in this thing, and I feel like sometimes I put out more curated, not this general human experience. It’s very specific to my own interworld, which isn’t going to apply to everyone, but I think it’s really important to do. It’s not everyone’s, but it’s going to be someone’s.
ML: Personally, when I’m listening to music, when you grab that one line and you’re like “that’s how I feel,” it makes people stick out as not only an artist but as a songwriter. You had mentioned you don’t like questioning. I was going to ask later, but is that way “Will I Be The Sun” has no question marks?
EW: I felt like it wasn’t meant to have a question mark because I do know the answer. I think that’s true for everyone; we just think our way out of the answer. You’re feeling this questioning, but deep down, you know, instinct and intuition will tell you the answer more than anything else.
That’s why I always say being who are indecisive, they aren’t indecisive, they’re just thinking their way out of their gut. Your body’s reaction to things is more than anything that can happen up here [points to her head].
ML: That is a great creative choice. I even double-checked my notes beforehand to make sure I had the title right. I see so many songs with question marks now, and to see one posed as one, but you know the answer, is phenomenal. Is there a lyric that sticks out to you the most?
EW: The structure of the song is kind of weird. If you break it down, it doesn’t abide by standard rules. The technically D section “Will I be the sun, will I ever move”, revolves on itself to then being maybe I’m the sun, and I’ve known this all along, maybe I just had to get those questions out. To me, “Maybe it’s begun” is such a hinge that doesn’t exist in any part of the song prior, and it starts to bring clarity.
ML: Is that the message you’re hoping listeners get from your song?
EW: I sure do, I hope it is a validation of the doubt that is gonna be there, give it a look, but don’t stare too long. Focus on that positive silver lining of things, and it will give you what you ultimately need. The way we use punctuation in our lives is so telling of how we live our lives. I relaxed the other day. Whatever questions you have about your life, if you take out the question, you make it a statement. You don’t need an answer.
ML: I’m going to be thinking about that for a while. I think that’s so important with everything you see on social media and people modifying themselves to fit in. Finding who you are in yourself. I love the folk style of your music. While looking, I came across Sufjan Stevens as an inspiration. Is that true?
EW: Yeah, I created a series of videos of me making these song time covers as ‘Sufjan on song time’. It was my take on Sufjan’s interior style and really stripped it down bare and emotionally naked, which these songs allowed. I love Sufjan Stevens a lot. His The Age of Adz album is like probably one of the most life-changing albums.
ML: Through your career and connecting with people, what is a moment that stood out to you the most?
EW: That is a good question. To be honest, I would probably have to say doing the shows I have done in the past year with this new music, because I personally have never done a show where I am not playing an instrument. I am just singing and performing freely, expressing myself in whatever way feels right and true.
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