After performing for the USC and larger Los Angeles audiences, Thornton School of Music student Ayla Claire is ready to take a brave step forward in her career — recording and releasing original songs.

Claire, a sophomore majoring in popular music performance, has performed at a multitude of house shows and local venues, most recently opening FemFest’s Harvest Moon festival in early October. Now, she is focusing her attention on releasing her first EP as a solo artist.

“My music is very honest and raw. I can’t really ever lie in my songs, because it just takes me out of the song,” Claire said. “There’s that soul aspect that I feel like is not always present in pop.”

Claire spent her childhood taking piano lessons, which led her to discover a love for singing and songwriting. She said her personal musical inspirations — the storytelling of The 1975, Adele’s voice and the feeling of Dominic Fike’s music — contribute heavily to her writing, as do events in her life.

“My experiences inspire me, and just my constant train of thought. … I’m always thinking, and that definitely fuels a lot of my writing,” Claire said. “I really try to create a narrative that just keeps going … constantly unfolding as the song progresses. I feel like that’s really powerful … to have a story just being told to me through music.”

Claire says she comes up with both the lyrics and the melody simultaneously when writing her best songs, getting a draft recorded before making alterations.

“It’s usually really just a flow state, and it’s very therapeutic. It’s just whatever’s on my mind,” Claire said. “The words that come out of my mouth immediately are not always the ones that stick, but the essence is definitely there, and I’ll go back and tweak it so the story makes more sense.”

Ruby Block, Claire’s manager and a sophomore majoring in music industry, said they have worked together since their freshman year; Block books Claire’s shows, manages her social media accounts and is currently organizing the EP’s rollout. During their time together, Block has come to know Claire well as an artist and performer.

“Being a manager and working with artists, it’s not only about the songwriting and the songs themselves, but it’s about the artists, about the stage presence,” Block said. “It’s about the way they can connect with their audience. There are a lot of elements that come into play … [Claire has that] one thousand percent.”

Block and Claire met when they became sorority sisters during their freshman year. Since then, Block says she has come to know Claire not just as a client but as a close friend.

“I’m her go-to person when it comes to her journey of her musical career — whatever she needs in terms of music, whether that’s sending input lists and stage plots to venues, whether that’s helping get her on the bill for gigs, whether that’s spearheading music videos,” Block said. “[It’s] just being there for her, not even as a friend, not even as a manager, but also as a person.”

Henry Dearborn, a sophomore majoring in music production, is producing three of the five songs on the EP. He also plays bass with Claire during her live performances.

“[Claire] has a lot of references for songs that are very clean sounding, very pop sounding. To get there requires a lot of manipulation in [post-production],” Dearborn said. “We’re just pushing through that process right now, a lot of back and forth revisions.”

Dearborn has worked on projects for his friends and himself. He said it’s important for an artist to know what they want from a producer and that Claire has taken an active role in producing the EP.

“She’s basically got the mind of a producer, because she knows what she can hear, what the arrangement and the production will sound like before it’s even there, and that’s really helpful,” Dearborn said. “She knows what the song is about and what it means to her … I have to do less guesswork.”

Dearborn said the project is close to being finished, and the two artists are making final tweaks and edits to clean up the tracks. He had praises to sing about Claire’s star power, saying that he is “happy to help” her on her musical journey.

Block also said she has a promising career, saying Claire’s songs “give [her] the chills,” resonating with her on a deep level.

“That’s how you know you love an artist,” Block said. “She’s going to go amazing places, because I believe in her and her craft and just her as a human being, and I’m super excited to be part of the process.”