Ella Redmond, FCRH ’21, has spent her college years exploring her creative talents. As a performer in multiple a cappella groups and bands, she has begun to carve out a niche for herself as a young singer and performer definitely worthy of an Instagram follow. 

Redmond found her love for music at an early age. She recalled first realizing her vocal talents in grade school when she started to sing in talent shows. “I sang all Hannah Montana songs,” said Redmond. “I loved her. She was probably my biggest influence as a kid, which is kind of hilarious.” 

Redmond remembers adults approaching her after these performances to gush over her voice. “You get kind of a rush after you do that because you’re making yourself vulnerable, and if people like it, it’s really rewarding,” she explained. 

Redmond spent three semesters at Loyola University Chicago before transferring to Fordham during her sophomore year. At both schools, Redmond joined a cappella groups — she is currently a member of Fordham’s all-female group, the Satin Dolls. “It’s such an amazing thing having everyone’s voice blend together to create one sound,” said Redmond. “It’s honestly a difficult thing to do.”

Until recently, Redmond was also one of the lead singers of Couch, a band she formed with a friend from her hometown of Boston. The two had originally been members of another band called Juniper as highschoolers but decided to end that project. They formed a new group in the summer of 2018 to explore a different sound. They reached out to other musicians to record their first original song for Couch, “We found a bunch of instrumentalists and another vocalist to sing the higher parts in the song,” she said. “We all go to different colleges across the Northeast, so the next time we were all home from break we recorded another song, and then it just became a formulated group of eight people.”

As a songwriter, Redmond said inspiration often comes to her from particularly strong emotions she has experienced. “The lyrics and the melody usually come to me all at once and then I build off of that,” she said. She shared in the songwriting for Couch, and the band’s upcoming EP features a song called “Life Before” written by Redmond inspired by her experience transferring colleges. 

However, Redmond explained that Couch’s first EP was her last project with the band, as she made the difficult decision to leave the group early this year. “It was super fun, and I loved it. All the people in the band are my close friends,” said Redmond. In spite of her fondness for the band, sharing the responsibilities of lead singer with another member became too stressful for Redmond. 

The other singer, who attends a different college, is a performing arts major and was usually able to dedicate more energy and time to the band, whereas Redmond, who majors in Digital Technologies and Emerging Media, often had to take time away from the band to focus on her schoolwork. “She was still able to keep songwriting and do business stuff for the band,” said Redmond. “I kind of had to hunker down and do my work for my major. I think because the two of us were in the same position as the two lead singers, people saw one singer doing a lot of work and then thought, ‘Well, Ella isn’t really doing anything.’” 

In the end, Redmond said she felt underappreciated by the rest of the band, and this feeling had a negative effect on her mental health. “I felt like I had to keep proving myself to my own bandmates who already should know that my abilities are good enough,” said Redmond. “I just kept doubting myself.” 

Despite the stress of realizing she needed to leave the band and close such an important chapter of her college years, Redmond remains optimistic about her future musical endeavors and hopes to release her own work soon. “I have a bunch of songs written,” she said. “I just have to arrange them and find instrumentalists and find producers to mix and master them.” Redmond recently collaborated with a producer who had approached her to provide the vocals for a disco-style song. 

While she works on other solo projects, Redmond posts videos of herself singing and playing the guitar or the piano to her music Instagram account @ellagredmondmusic. She said watching other young songwriters and musicians share their talents on TikTok and other social media platforms over the last year allowed her to become more confident in sharing her own. “Seeing other people be vulnerable and get out of their comfort zone kind of makes you think ‘Okay, I can do that too!’” said Redmond. 

Aside from singing and songwriting, Redmond also has a great love of fashion and graphic design. She said she would love to be able to work for the digital or marketing wing of Vogue or Elle someday. Redmond said she hopes to remain in New York City after she graduates from Fordham this spring. “My favorite building in New York City is 432 Park Avenue,” said Redmond. “I love the views of the city from super high up, so I always joke about living in that building but the apartments are all 30 million dollars…But definitely in my spare time, I want to keep making music and writing songs and keep sharing my perspectives through my voice.”