Beth Crowley – The Ghost Who is Still Alive

By starrymag | February 28, 2023

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) A lot of my music is what I would call “cinematic pop” or “dark pop,” but I like to play around with my sound a lot. Sometimes I will do more piano ballad-style songs, sometimes they have a bit of rock or even musical theatre elements to them.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) I gravitate towards lyrics, so I love artists like Taylor Swift, Julia Michaels and FINNEAS. Maisie Peters is another younger artist that I think has some incredibly creative lyricism in her music.

 

Q) Your talent on the piano is breathtaking. How has it become an extension of you and your art?

 

A) Thank you! I think of the piano as being like the foundation of a house – it’s a solid starting point to build on. There are songs that I do like to have the piano be the feature when it comes to the production, but a lot of times it is there to help hold everything else up.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “The Ghost Who is Still Alive.”

 

A) “The Ghost Who Is Still Alive” is based on the novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, which is about a young woman who makes a bargain to live forever with the caveat being that no one will ever remember her. It was interesting to explore how lonely that would be and whether it would be worth it to live as much life as you want but never have someone to share it with.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

A) I think a lot of my fans go into listening to my songs ready connect them to books/movies/characters. I have had a lot of fans of the book instantly get the book references in “The Ghost Who Is Still Alive,” but it is always fun to see them also draw parallels to other characters or even an aspect of their own life, too.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

 

A) I knew I wanted a big theme of both the lyric video and the visualizer video to be art, because art is really important in the book. In addition to no one remembering Addie, she is also unable to have her likeness captured in drawings, paintings or photographs- her face is always obscured or blurred out. So, my idea was to have the videos be a mix of video clips and art pieces all featuring women when you can never clearly see their faces. I love how the videos turned out!

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

 

A) I usually start with a combination of a lyric snippet and a melody, take that to the piano to figure out what chords it should be, and build the song from there. My two best friends in the writing process are rhymezone.com and thesaurus.com. Sometimes I’m able to write a song fairly quickly, but most of the time it is a lot of adding something new, sitting with it for a while to make sure it feels right, then repeat until I’m done.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

A) I am pretty fully hands-on with music production. My longtime producer Daniel Dennis and I craft every track together from start to finish. It can be a meticulous process, but I think being involved in every stage of making a song has taught me so much about the production side of things.

 

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future?

 

A) “The Ghost Who Is Still Alive” is actually the first track building up to my new album of all book-based songs,Unabridged.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

A) I actually don’t do a lot of live performance! It’s never been a huge part of my career because my audience is so global and spread out. I am hoping to start doing more of that soon though.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

A) I feel like Ryan Tedder is one of the best songwriters and producers in the business, so it would be awesome to work with him someday. There is also another producer, Tommy Profitt, who is NF’s producer and specializes in big, epic cinematic songs. So, that would be a fun collaboration, too.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

A) Paramore is about to release a new album, so I have been listening to a lot of their older stuff in preparation. Hayley Williams is an incredible vocalist, and Paramore’s music just speaks to my angst.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

A) For them, I hope it humanizes me and gives them a look at what my life and my music creation process is like. For me, it is an incredible reminder of why I love doing this for a living. Through social media I get to hear about the impact my music has had on people directly from them, and there is nothing more meaningful to me than getting a message, comment, or email from someone saying they connected with one of my songs.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

A) Just thank you x 10000000, and that I work every day to try and be worthy of them.