“Evil genius” is how 22-year-old Los Angeles musician Ella Woolsey describes her music, bringing together raw vocals, acoustic instrumentals and lyrics rooted deeply in storytelling.

With tracks exploring themes of love, loss, and deep sadness, and lyrics that are poetic yet straightforward enough for the average listener to understand and relate to, Woolsey said she aims to tell a story — whether drawing from her real life or spinning a fictional narrative.

“My songs really are just stories to me, more than songs, more than music,” Woolsey said. “It’s just me making stuff up most of the time.”

Woolsey says her songwriting process includes constant additions to her holy grail: her phone’s notes app. 

“I have a running ‘ideas/writing’ note on my notes app on my phone, and I honestly think of a lot of stuff while I’m driving, which is definitely really dangerous, but you know what, you gotta do what you gotta do. I’ll look through that, and then I’ll take [a phrase] and write something from there,” Woolsey said. “‘Damn Navy’ and ‘Charlie’ both just started because I really like those names. I’m a big fan of just making shit up.”

The singer said it was elementary school musical theatre that sparked her interest in music, not the acting aspect she was initially drawn to.

“I started taking piano lessons and writing music when I was 14, and just never stopped,” Woolsey said. “Then I gave up on piano and started playing guitar, and I was like, ‘This is my shit, I found it.’”

Though much of Woolsey’s current discography, containing 10 singles and three EP releases, with one only on SoundCloud, is slow, pulling focus to her acoustic guitar and soft voice, she aims to create faster-tempo music in the future.

“[I want] to make people dance,” Woolsey said. 

Though Woolsey’s music was difficult for her to fit into a defined genre, her producer, David Marinelli, described it as “unfortunately, indie folk.”

“She’s in the same box as a lot of bad music, but I do believe that she’s really different,” Marinelli said. “She sings about kind of abstract things, and she’s channeling her real life experience into it — but she’s singing about holding a sword or some shit, and you feel it, even if neither of you actually experienced the thing that she’s talking about.”

Woolsey recently played near USC’s campus, headlining a show put on by Sonder Music Group. With 50,000listeners on Spotify and new singles released every few months, Woolsey is only continuing to see growth. 

Samantha Gartland, Woolsey’s manager and a USC music industry 2024 graduate, oversees the day-to-day responsibilities of continuing that upward growth in a very “natural” way. As a team, Gartland and Woolsey focus closely on the making of her music, with marketing coming in secondarily.

“It can feel intimidating when you approach it as a release strategy or a marketing plan when you’re such a new artist, and it’s like, ‘just make the music and put it out, and we’ll be here to help when and as needed,’” Gartland said.

Woolsey spoke to how overwhelming it can be to turn a passion into a career – going from music being an enjoyable hobby to a main source of income.

“It’s hard to keep [music fun] when it becomes a realm of your career and business, but I’ve been really trying to focus on just having fun recently,” Woolsey said. “[Music is] my life, it’s everything. It’s terrifying, but it’s also so exciting, and I am so blessed and surrounded by the most amazing friends and family who support the fuck out of me.”

Despite her anxieties, Woolsey has big goals, including buying a “massive house” for her mother and being a source of inspiration for others. Woolsey also plans to release two new EPs this year.  

Woolsey released her first EP when she was 16 years old. Since then, she said she has only seen improvement in her songwriting and is excited to show the world music that more accurately represents who she has become. 

“I’ve been releasing music for a while, but I feel like I’ve finally gotten to a place where I feel like every part of [my music] truly speaks to how I feel and who I am, which took me years,” Woolsey said. “I feel lucky that I started when I was so young, because I feel good about where I am now and what’s to come after this.”