My Creative Process

By Evanie

Every song I write starts with a spark—a phrase, a melody, sometimes even just a single word that won’t leave my head until I give it a home. I’ve learned that my best ideas rarely show up when I’m sitting at a desk with an instrument in my hands. Instead, they sneak in when I’m walking, showering, or half-asleep at 2 a.m. That’s why my phone is packed with messy voice memos of me humming ideas I can barely remember recording.

Once I catch that spark, I usually sit at the piano or grab my guitar. I don’t worry about structure yet—I just let myself play, sing nonsense syllables, and see where the emotion leads me. I treat it like sculpting clay: at first, it’s shapeless, but the more I mold it, the more it starts to reveal what it wants to become.
Lyrics often come last for me. I tend to write around a feeling first. Maybe the chord progression already feels like heartbreak, or maybe the melody carries an energy of hope. Once I’ve identified that emotional core, the words tend to pour out. Sometimes I’ll rewrite them ten times; sometimes the first draft sticks.

That process taught me patience—and also that sometimes the first draft is closer to the truth than I think.

But the truth is, my creative process is never exactly the same twice. Some songs arrive in one sitting, almost fully formed, and others take weeks of tinkering. Either way, I love the mystery of it—the way music feels like both a gift I’m receiving and a craft I’m shaping.

And honestly, that’s the magic for me. Writing music feels like catching lightning in a bottle—impossible to plan, but unforgettable when it happens.

If you’d like to hear where that process has taken me so far, you can listen to my debut singles on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream your music. It’s just the beginning, and I can’t wait to share more with you.

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Evanie is a 17-year-old French singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She has released two self-produced singles—her debut in October 2024 and a follow-up in June 2025. Passionate and determined, she’s excited to continue sharing her music with the world.

Don't miss her interview with Section 36 Music to learn more about this incredible artist.

Behind the Scenes of "TENSION HIGH" by Alexa Name

TENSION HIGH was one of the four original songs that I was going to make with Lavend3r that were for my capstone project at Berklee. My capstone project was an EP and the four songs were going to be GODDAMN BABY!, UNAWARE, TENSION HIGH, and another one I won’t say right now because I have not released it yet (it’s coming soon). But, yeah, TENSION HIGH was one of the four originals. The thing is we started recording those, and they were so good, in our opinion they were great, so we just kept recording more and more and more things. We ended up tossing the EP in a way and just made a ton of songs that will eventually be an album. 

 

TENSION HIGH was the third or fourth song that I made with Lavend3r, and that I had ever recorded in a studio. So I was way more comfortable at that point. I remember the first song I made with Lavend3r I was still kind of unsure of like where to put ad-libs or was unsure where to speak up about what I want and what I don’t want and the whole thing. I was still learning, and TENSION HIGH definitely felt more comfortable. A big thing, for example, that I remember that I felt super comfortable with was in the second verse and in the chorus you can hear some breaths that are off beat in the background. I felt that those were really cool and my friend John didn’t want them, but I fought for them. And I’m so glad that I did because I really love them. And you can really hear them more on the live track where my lead vocals are not there. But it’s really cool. I played the live track the other day for my friends and they were like “Oh my god! They’re so cool!” and I was so proud. 

The song is about that situationship I talk about in UNAWARE and GODDAMN BABY! as well. I was in a class at Berklee, a songwriting class that I had to write a song for every week. And it could be about anything. At that point while I was taking the class I had that situationship so that was my inspiration at the time. My songs were basically my diary and I would write a song every week about what was happening. And TENSION HIGH at that point, every time I saw my situationship I felt the vibes…you know, the vibes. I felt them and felt that they wanted to say something and they didn’t and it was the same with me, right? It was more like, we’re in the same friend group, we don’t want to ruin anything. At the same time there’s something there and I would think about that person every time I wasn’t with them, and that’s why the chorus says “I’ll be thinking about you in the middle of the night”. The cool part about the song, in my opinion, is that it goes from my perspective to their perspective. That’s why the second chorus instead of saying I it says you…like "you’ll be thinking about me in the middle of the night” because the tension was there with the both of us. 
 

It was really fun to record the song. I made the song with Lavend3r and Zani, who is an exceptional musician. They helped me build the song into what it is. Every song I made with Lavend3r, except for one we haven’t released yet, I always came in with the chords, the lyrics, the melody, everything and then John, Nicco and Zani would help me build them up. TENSION HIGH was a really really fun one. I wanted it to be rhythmic and bass heavy, which is why it starts with the bass. It starts simple instrumentally and it builds up over time and it’s really cool. 

The photoshoot was really fun. I did the photoshoot with my manager Patricio Luna who’s also an amazing photographer. He does concert photography and he’s incredible. We kind of put a projector saying “tension high” everywhere and he added some eyes that were really sexy and cool. The vibe was like all red and it was really really cool. I also had a couple more friends there during the photoshoot who were in charge of lighting and audio. So they would basically play any song that they felt would inspire me to be sexy for the shoot which was so funny. And they pointed at me with red lights the whole time which were quite intense, I’m not going to lie, but it was fun. 
 

Releasing the song has been really really fun. I love it. I think it’s a very summer vibe song and I really hope you love it too. I hope you love it as much as I do. And if you’re going through the same thing as I did at the time I hope you connect with the song and it’s a release and you know you’re not alone and it’s a human experience. And yeah I hope you just dance to it, vibe to it, let you use the song to help you get through it. You know what I mean. I hope you love the song as much as I do.

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I want to thank Alexa for taking the time to share this story with us. 

Be sure to follow Alexa on Instagram, and Spotify. And, be sure to listen to "TENSION HIGH" wherever you usually find your music.

Thanks again Alexa!

How Heart Failure Impacted My Music - by Priscilla Ariana

I began feeling sick a month after having COVID. I remember being so tired. I did not leave my bed thinking that healing works best when we sleep but grew frustrated as the days went on since I was only growing sicker. My temperature was rising every day up until 105 and wouldn’t go down. I had a sore throat which led us to thinking it was strep but the test came negative, then ran more tests yet they all came out negative. My parents were changing my sheets that I would sweat through so then they started bringing towels and changing them underneath me. I went to the doctor who told me how my potassium level was low and that the reason my temperature wasn’t going down was because I wasn’t allowing my body to fight by taking the Tylenol. Considering this, the doctor insisted that I stop taking Tylenol and instead  allow my body to fight the virus. So, that is what I did.  

The next night after this instruction I remember watching Soul in my mothers bedroom except when the movie had finished I recall asking my mom “what just happened? I was watching the movie but don’t remember anything.” It turns out I wasn't present for the movie at all. My mom was spooked and called my aunt who was a past nurse and she asked how my breathing was. My mom then had me blow into this breathing instrument my eldest brother used in the past and I could barely lift the ball within it. My aunt said “Lisa, bring Priscilla to the ER right now.” Back to the ER my parents and I went although they could only go so far since COVID restrictions were in order.  

I remember laying down in the ER looking up to the ceiling overhearing the doctor say “your heart is at 30%, you have a very low blood pressure, and pneumonia.” I found out later from my mom how the doctors told her, “we will do the best we can.'' which led her to get to the car and start bawling her eyes out while holding my fathers hand. After hearing the news from the doctor I remember drowning out all of the noise in the room. I paused, closed my eyes and had a moment in prayer.  When I began praying  I immediately felt bad because I have not been praying as consistently as usual. 

The thought that followed was that God knew my heart and intention and knew that I was sorry. While in prayer I thought to myself how thankful I was for all that I have lived through unknowing of what the next 10 minutes would consist of. It was a signifying moment where I disattached and surrendered. Before this moment my greatest fear was death. 

After some time spent in the ICU I was finally able to go home. Although, this time I wasn’t the same Priscilla, at all. My dad wheeled me out and then I stood up, walked and remembered feeling the cold air that I was dreaming of while looking out of the hospital room window. Stepping on the curb to the car I remember almost falling, losing my balance, even talking I would have to take pauses. I was very fragile. After arriving home I walked super slowly up the stairs to my bedroom with my dad behind making sure I didn’t fall down.

Immediately my mindset was more alert than ever. Even in the ICU I was still attending Zoom classes. This was such a blessing especially since most of my classes were Songwriting during my senior year so while going through all of this I was transferring all of my emotion into song. 

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I want to thank Priscilla for taking the time to share this story with us. 

Be sure to follow Priscilla on Instagram, and Spotify. And, be sure to listen to "Cherry Blossoms" wherever you usually find your music.

Thanks again Priscilla!