Elizabeth Evans on Loneliness in Her 20s, Unreleased Tracks, and Imogen Heap
Meet Elizabeth Evans, the absolute powerhouse behind songs such as “Make You Stay” and “Vertigo.” She’s making waves with her ambiguous sound that makes it impossible to put her in just one box, because her music is much larger than that. It blends genres, influences, and vocals in a way that makes her sound something entirely unique. Later in the interview, Elizabeth mentions that if she could give a person one song of hers to get to know her & her sound, it would be “i'm here, waiting.” You’ll see it linked below to listen to while you read. She’s not only an amazing musician, but an amazing person with stories to tell that many women can relate to, myself included. She makes music that allows vulnerable emotions to feel seen, and pain to be translated into a healthier medium.
I'd love for you to start by giving me a little bit of background about who you are and why you started making music.
Yeah, absolutely. For me, growing up, I never really had a plan B. My mom was probably the main, not even probably, she was the main reason why I wanted to do music. I grew up watching her sing in church and around different local things. I grew up in Arlington, Texas, so she would sing at Six Flags and do all these different shows, so I was always backstage with different people. Like, I don't know if you know who Todrick Hall is, but he was one of the people who helped choreograph Taylor Swift's Reputation tour. It was just kind of wild how many cool people I got to be around just because my mom wanted to sing and do that. But she ended up just being a mom, so she was kind of doing music on the side and everything, but it rubbed off on me.
That's honestly such a cute way to get started in it, too, through your mom. So as you were kind of getting into it, what instruments were you reaching for, and which ones do you like to use the most now? Which were kind of the entrance into your work in music?
I love that question because I was in fifth grade when we had the option to start playing in the orchestra or the band if we wanted. So my first instrument was actually violin. That was what I played for seven or eight years. Then I started playing guitar when I was 11. Piano, I just kind of picked up. I'm not really great at piano, but I know enough chords to write with it if I want to. But guitar is definitely my favorite thing to write on and pick up.
You were talking about your mom being a big part of your early introduction to music. I assume that your mom and remembering those early days feels like coming back home. So what things, what inspirations, generally feel like home to you? It could be your family, or a movie, or another artist, or specific genre, anything.
Love that question. For me, unfortunately, a lot of my songs are about unrequited love. I feel like my whole thing is, I'm 24 and I've never been in like a real relationship. It's just kind of always me, and that's been a thing that's followed me my whole life, and I'm like, What is wrong with me? For the longest time, I wanted to run from that feeling and not write about it. So I was writing about things that really weren’t my lived experiences. In the past year, I would say I finally have just been kind of rolling in… I don't know if embarrassment is the right word, but like that. It does feel like that sometimes, because, like, I grew up having friends that have been dating and having boyfriends since, I don't even know, elementary school or something. I try to make music for the girls like me that just for whatever reason, haven't found luck with a decent person. This doesn't want
But, I also get a lot of inspiration from TV shows, not even lyric concept wise. I'm a big Grey's Anatomy fan. I love Grey's Anatomy. For whatever reason, the soundtrack and the early seasons of the show, I would just start humming melodic things over because they would have these really cool, almost Imogen Heap-esque instrumental tracks in the background. A lot of my songs start that way. I'll hear something instrumental, and then I'll start humming something over it, and then I'm like, Okay, wait. I kind of like that, actually. Then I'll go into my voice notes and record it, and then later on, I'll fill on the lyrics.
Cool. It's always interesting to me because I used to just ask the question like, What are your favorite artists? What are your favorite albums? But I feel like people just genuinely find inspiration in the strangest things. I’ve gotten answers from all over the board. It's so interesting because we take away these pieces of things that maybe wouldn't make sense to another person, but for some reason, it affects us in some way or another, and it becomes part of what you're creating. And I think that that's really beautiful, so I love Grey's Anatomy as an answer. You’re also welcome to talk about other musical inspirations too.
Yeah, I think I mentioned Imogen Heap, I grew up on her. Absolutely love all of her stuff. She's just really eclectic with all of the different things that she blends, so I feel like I’m in a futuristic world, but then she has these really funky elements. Um, Evanescence. I grew up on Amy Lee. This is so embarrassing, but I'm gonna tell you. When I was probably six or seven I would make interpretive dances to her whole album. I also love Spiritbox. My mom did a really great job with raising me on everything, like James Taylor and Christina Aguilera and Maroon Five and Amy Winehouse. I feel like I got a good dose of everything, but I really have gravitated towards trying to blend an Imogen Heap sort of lightness with the production elements. But also, I really love the heavier metal stuff. I don't ever fully go there, I'm not a fry vocal girl, but I wish I could be that. Those are kind of my top faves.
Those are really good answers, you have amazing taste. I can hear the variety of your influences in your music.
Oh, that makes me so happy.
I remember thinking when I was listening that it's kind of hard to place your music in a genre because it like blends so many different aspects, I guess. I love finding music that surprises me and then I'm like, wow, I don't even feel like I can categorize this, because it's very unique. Okay, let's talk about your music now. I got the impression that you're deeply inspired to write and create by pain in some regard. You also mentioned a little bit of that embarrassment, which I very deeply understand. Would you say that writing from a perspective of pain is true to you, and how do you translate that into something that becomes a tangible song?
For me, it's just facing it head on. For the longest time I thought I was avoidant, and then I realized, as soon as I get into a situationship with someone, I'm, like, ridiculously anxiously attached. I don't know what that says about me. I guess I'm both just depending on the situation. But I just have to actually address the feelings that are going on, because it's so easy for me to push them down and not feel. I would say that, to keep it true and honest to myself, I actually have to make the dedicated time to sit down and be like, Okay, you can't run from this. No, you're not okay. You have to be honest. Right now, you're feeling rejected and you're feeling embarrassed because the man that you didn't even want in the first place doesn't want you anymore and is telling you he can't commit to a relationship, and you're feeling badly about yourself right now.
That's the hardest thing— taking the time that I need to process those feelings and then actually jot it down into a song format. It takes me weeks sometimes just to work through all of that. But normally it's, it's like I’ll write a note in my phone at like, two in the morning, and then I forget about it. Then I'll go into a session with my producer, and we'll start messing around and tracking something production wise. And then I'm scrolling through my notes, and I'll read him an idea that I have. I'm like, this might be kind of bad, but normally he's the one who's like, no, it's actually pretty good. Let's run with that. And so we'll just track a vocal idea really quick, and then just kind of build around it.
Yeah, so we're talking about how drawing from these emotions is a big part of writing the songs. Are there other things that you draw from outside of emotion? I guess, kind of going back to inspirations, but also generally, just life events that maybe don't have to do with that pain or have to do with the embarrassment, if that makes sense.
It totally makes sense. I think for a while, like, for example, I have a new one that's actually coming out in February. It's called “Everywhere I Go.” That one, I wanted to challenge myself to not write about romantic things, because there's so much more to life than that. I have to remind myself of that whenever I'm still on the heartbreak. This one actually has to do with just feeling absolutely crippled by loneliness in your 20s, not in a romantic sense. It's the feeling of not belonging in a room that you step into, and that's something that I've struggled with my whole life. Feeling like something's off about me, and it feels like everybody sees it, so that's another thing I think that I'm pulling from more so nowadays. I'm trying not to focus as much on the romantic stuff. I'm trying to focus on other things that are relatable to people that aren't just all-consumed by romantic, unrequited feelings. I would say that, what's another one? So I actually went to Belmont University. And by the way, I meant to ask you, where are you at?
I'm in Oregon, I go to University of Oregon.
Oh, okay, sick. Do you like it?
I love it. I was born and raised in Oregon, so I’m in my hometown.
It's pretty there, I've always wanted to go. It's so beautiful.
It's been rainy and freezing, but I love the winter weather. Sorry, not to get on a side tangent about weather.
Sorry, I meant to ask you that earlier! But anyways, what was I saying?
Belmont.
Yes, I actually started Belmont thinking that I was going to write country music. So really weird. I did that for a while, and I still do occasionally if I pick up my guitar and have an urge to put it in drop D tuning. Every now and again, I'll do that, but when I was writing in the country-folk realm, a lot of that centered around family struggles and stuff like that. I don't know why the medium of country-folk music allows me to talk about family stuff, but it does. I love country music, but I think I just feel more at home in this ambiguous, genreless world, but maybe one day.
What you were saying about “Everywhere I Go” really resonated. Even just talking to you now, I already feel like I relate to you and the message that's being told in your music. With a song like that, just talking about loneliness in your 20s, especially now with how, like, everyone is just so chronically online that sometimes in-person friendships are so hard to come by, I think people will find that message and resonate with it a lot through you. I really love finding artists like that, ones that women in their 20s can relate to and feel at home in their music.
That makes me so happy to hear. The song is definitely leaning more into the Imogen Heap, like really thick vocoder vocal stacks and harmonies. The whole time I was writing it and making it in production, I was just like, there should have been a class or something like, either before leaving high school or before leaving college, where they just prepare you and warn you. Like, Hey, you're gonna have this feeling, and it's really weird, and you're gonna stay up until three or four in the morning for weeks on end, just pondering life and and why you feel this way all the time. I also feel like there’s not enough songs about friendship breakups. That's another thing that I want to dive into eventually. There's just so much more to life than romantic songs. I'm really excited to lean more into that.
I can't wait to hear what you come up with in that lane, because you have friendship breakups are the worst. I had a really hurtful one a while ago, and it ruined my life for a few months. I would love to hear more songs that talk about that, because there's really not many, like you said. I really love that you're making music for people like me to feel understood and to feel related to. Okay, let's talk about the singles that you released in 2025. You released four last year. What was the process like for those tracks, as opposed to some of your older songs, such as “This One’s Gonna Hurt” and “Her Skeleton”? Did you and do you now find that how you approach making music has changed at all over the years?
1,000%. I feel like this past year, I was more willing to be experimental, like “Vertigo” was just kind of a weird one. I like it a lot, but I feel like it wasn't fully the sound that I am now. I feel more secure in “i'm here, waiting.” And like “The Most” is an older one, but that one feels a little bit closer to kind of what I was trying to shoot for. In years past, I didn't really have a clear direction for myself. I wasn't really spending the dedicated time with my producer, and I think also I wasn't advocating for myself as much. I was open to trying anything, but I also didn't really have quite a grasp on who I wanted to be as an artist yet. I think everyone's always figuring that out, and I hope that I'm always going to keep changing, and it's not just going to stay this way. But, yeah, I think now I'm more, I guess, what's the word I'm looking for, not dedicated, but disciplined. I'm more disciplined in actually making the time to go over to my producer’s multiple times a week, and I'm bringing ideas and I'm I'm just more intentional with what I'm doing. And I think that that's paying off more so now, just because I'm figuring out what I like sonically. So yeah, definitely I feel more like an adult now. At first, I just felt like a college girl shooting in the dark. Now I'm having a lot more fun with it and feel like I have more of a direction.
I love that you used the word intentional because I think a lot of growing up generally is about becoming more intentional with what you do and how you approach things. I can hear it in the way that your sound is refined, like listening to your earliest songs in comparison with your more recent ones. It's definitely come together in a very purposeful way. Now, I can really hear your sound that's become so unique. My next question is, if you could give a new listener one song to listen to by you, and it could also be something unreleased, to convince them to be a fan, what song would it be and why? What's the staple that you feel like represents you best?
That's a really good question. There's two songs that I'm thinking of. One is not out yet, but I've posted little snippets of it. It's called “Leave.” That one has gotten me a lot of cool opportunities, like, I auditioned to play the bluebird in Nashville, and I got into that, like, being able to play in their writer’s rounds with that song, a lot of different Belmont opportunities. But I don't know, “i'm here, waiting” is also really good, too. I don't know. I'm gonna say “i'm here, waiting” because that one is out, but it also blends the Imogen Heap kind of dreamy, ethereal production with this slow growth of feminine rage. I think that's the first thing I would tell people to listen to. It's a good representation of me and my love for unrequited love songs.
I love that, and I will definitely put that somewhere in the beginning of the interview so people know what song to listen to as they read. Well, that was my last official question. So I want to ask you now, is there anything that you'd like to plug? Do you have any shows coming up about the new music? Can we expect an album?
I wish, but I'm doing this independent. I would love an album one day, but for now, “Everywhere I Go” will be out in February. That's the next thing, and we have some cool visualizers and stuff like that. I'm really excited about that one, but that's it for now. I'm kind of taking a break from performing live, just because, I don't know if you saw this, but I did The Voice, and I'm trying to bury it. It was a great experience, but it fried me. I don't know why I've always been a little anxious on stage, but after that, my nervous system just tweaks. So I'm really focusing on just like, loving the process of being involved with production and the writing, and I'll start performing again eventually, but I need a few more therapy sessions.
I'm so shocked that you're not signed because you are so talented, and I hope that someone picks you up soon with an amazing record deal. Thank you so much for your answers!
