Compartmentalizing Passion: Willow Woodward on Songwriting, Squash, & Boarding School

Transcript

How long have you been performing and writing music, and when did this passion come?

Willow Woodward: I started playing piano when I was really young. Piano was the first instrument I ever played, but it wasn't until fifth or sixth grade that I started writing songs. When I started writing songs, I had these little journals that I would write my songs in and I didn't know how to how to write the chords on the piano. So, I would write the individual piano notes. They were terrible, like they were so bad. Over time. I started working with a songwriting mentor, starting in sixth grade. And then I switched actually from classical piano, I switched to a jazz piano teacher chord progression. My songs changed drastically from there and took my songs to a whole different level. So my first, I can't remember, I think it might have been in sixth grade was the first time I ever recorded. So it was this little recording studio near my house. And for Christmas, one of my Christmas presents was a recording studio. So we went into the studio, like near where I played squash in Westchester, and I recorded the song called with me, I probably haven't played it for you guys, because it's not really good. But I just remember, it was so cool. It's such an amazing experience, recording a song for the first time. And then I started writing more songs. I started going to studios with better sound quality and stuff like that.

What’s the meaning behind the album name Hideaway?

Willow Woodward: So the album's called Hideaway, but then there's also a song called Hideaway. I feel like it was really meaningful for right now. The song is really about finding your own hideaway, finding a place to be, just be by yourself or be in a different state of mind. I left the lyrics pretty ambiguous and open to interpretation because everyone has their own hideaway. It could be a place, it could be a person.

What would be your personal hideaway?

Willow Woodward: When I'm at home, especially because we're away from home so much, my hideaway is definitely my family. Cape Cod is such a hideaway for me because I love being by the ocean and being by the sea; I just find it so therapeutic. At Deerfield, probably the practice rooms in the Hess with the pianos. This year, I started learning guitar over quarantine. I have a guitar in my room where I can play music. But last year and freshman year, I would always have to go to the practice rooms if I wanted to play piano and playing piano was just so therapeutic for me. So, I feel like that was definitely my hideaway.

What is your favorite song on the album?

Willow Woodward: So this is definitely really tough because I like all the songs in the album, or else they wouldn't be there. But it would probably between Miles Away or Out of the Shadows, because they have a lot of meaning and are really special to me. If I had to choose one, it would probably be Miles Away. Especially being at school, it's about feeling close to people even if you're far away in distance. And I feel like that's something really powerful, especially living away from home.

Kate Stenger: I've never written a song in my life, and I probably never will.

What does the songwriting process look like for you?

Willow Woodward: This is something I feel like people don't really know. It's also changed over time for me, because in the beginning, I would write my songs mostly on the piano. So I would just be playing the piano and I would find chords or a melody that I liked. Then I would find the words. Also, my parents always tell people about my music, they say that sometime like, I'll be in the shower, and then an idea will pop into my head, and I'll put my towel, like, rush to the piano and write something down. But recently, so I don't like jump out the shower, I always have my phone with me and the Voice Memos app. Lately I've been so forgetful, so I always write stuff down, even with my reminders on my phone. The worst thing is coming up with this amazing melody and then going to the piano later on and saying oh my gosh, I don't remember it.

Lauren Stenger: Are there any in there that you would like to share?

Willow Woodward: So the title of the song is called Hard On Ourselves. And so it was actually a friend, a friend of mine, was going through a really tough time. So I was just thinking, I was sitting in my room with my guitar and I was singing. You know, we are always so hard on ourselves and we are our own worst critic. So yeah, that song isn’t on the album; I literally wrote this a couple of days ago.

Do you have specific emotions you try to evoke in your songs?

Willow Woodward: People always ask me if my songs are based on personal experiences. I always say no, I try to write songs that aren't really about me. I try to write them about themes or things that people can relate to. I feel like the best songs are songs that everyone can be able to listen to or listen from a different perspective. So that's what I what I think about when I create music.

What do you think has been the biggest challenge throughout creating this entire album?

Willow Woodward: I feel like I'm my worst critic. You guys have a little taste of this with the podcast because it's so nerve wracking putting yourself out there, and no matter how much you work on it, you know, how much you work on not caring what people think. We all care a little bit about what people think of us. I think it's bad if you consume yourself with that, but I mean, I think something I've been working on with Hideaway is that just trying to not really care because I've been working so hard. And I always think about my support system, all my amazing friends that are just so amazing.

How long did it take you to write this album?

Willow Woodward: Something that's interesting is that a lot of the songs in the album come from different times. I wrote Superman at the at the end of middle schools, I was saying that my voice has changed over time. And so it just sounds I just sound older in the second recording. Something like Hideaway, I this past spring, and then recorded over the summer, but then something like Christmas in July, I recently wrote and just put it into the album, almost as an afterthought.

How do you get into the writing process? And what's your favorite part of the writing song process?

Willow Woodward: They're so many parts of the writing the songwriting process. There's the lyrics, and then there's the melody. What's interesting is that, in a lot of songwriters, some will be better at writing the lyrics. Creating really cool rhymes or really catchy lyrics that you're like, oh, my gosh, that's such a cool lyric. And then some people are better at creating the melody. I'm so much better at creating the melodies and making hooky melodies in your head, because the lyrics just take so much time and so many revisions. You're trying to tell a story and in what I've been doing recently, is I write the song section by section. So you want the chorus to be the strongest part of the song, because the chorus is what people mostly remember in Superman. So that's why you write the chorus first. And then you go back to the verse and then make sure it all fits together, which helps. It helps not make the songwriting process so overwhelming.

Lauren Stenger: I feel like that would take a long time.

Willow Woodward: It does. Sometimes it takes a month or sometimes I write a song like Christmas in July. Christmas in July literally came out of me. It was over the summer and Christmas in July, so it was over the summer, we were swimming in the pool. And my family was like, “You should write Christmas song.” And then my parents were throwing in ideas. They were like, “Summertime Santa”. But then we went back to the house, and I thought maybe I should try to write it. I liked that idea of doing something summery but then Christmasy Yeah. And then we were able to record the music video at the end of the summer, which was amazing.

Kate Stenger: You are an insane squash player, you’re so driven academically and you're obviously such a talented musician. So what's the secret sauce to your success?

What's the secret sauce to your success?

Willow Woodward: Well, it's not easy and I feel like this isn’t a secret to success but something that I do is I compartmentalize everything. There are times where grades come first, but what's great is that I truly love both squash and music and I find a different outlet from both of them. So sometimes music takes a backseat if I have a squash tournament coming up, or obviously when I was doing this album over the summer, I wasn't playing much squash, because I couldn't do both. But I've never been able to give one up for the other because I feel like they're such an integral part of who I am.

Lauren Stenger: It seems like they serve different purposes in your life.

What has songwriting taught you about yourself?

Willow Woodward: I've used songwriting as a way to express myself, but just the joy of music and the tranquility that music brings me, I just love sharing with others, whether that's actually releasing my music so everyone can hear it or just playing my guitar in my room for you guys. It's taught me a lot about how I present myself. Also, I feel like l I've grown so much in the past couple of years with my music.

What is a motto or piece of advice that like you try to live by?

Willow Woodward: I was reading this other day. It was talking about a carbon footprint is, how much energy you consume on the planet and how much waste you're leaving behind. But it was talking about a kindness footprint; what you want to leave because of your actions. Every action has an impact, no matter what you do whether it's intentional or unintentional. I’m trying to think about increasing my kindness footprint, or just trying to help other people around me.

“It was talking about a carbon footprint is, how much energy you consume on the planet and how much waste you’re leaving behind. But it was also talking about a kindness footprint; what you want to leave because your actions. Every action has an impact, no matter what you do whether it’s intentional or unintentional. ”

What is your dream for your music career?

Willow Woodward: I'd love to take music as far as it can go, but I'm not too serious about it; I try to keep it fun. I don’t know, I feel like there are so many unknowns right now, and I'm just trying to keep writing and evolving with my music. Because starting from where I started, and even some songs in the album, they're more dancey. I feel like right now I'm writing a lot more ballads and country songs. I'll always love my original songs that I that I started writing, but I just feel like I want to keep writing because it's such a good outlet for me.