Woodgrove junior Ele Winner is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who is just beginning to make her mark on the music industry. In February of 2024, she performed her rendition of junior Lillian Hackett’s “Tennessee” on Woodgrove Idol, earning her roaring applause from the audience.
Winner has been singing all her life. She has been participating in choir since middle school and started doing solo gigs when she was in 6th grade. She has also been playing piano since 1st grade and guitar since 6th grade. “I love the freedom of getting to write, play, and share whatever I want,” she remarked. “It’s honestly so therapeutic, as I use music and songwriting as a way to express my feelings and widen my creativity.”
Winner feels “blessed” that songwriting comes easy for her, enabling her to write originals for her to sing. She writes and records in a guest room in her house, finding that writing in a small space is best for her creative process. The time it takes her to write a song depends on her level of focus. Usually, her writing time is a couple of hours, but it can sometimes take up to a week. She finds it important to disconnect from her phone and the online world when she writes. She commented, “When you songwrite, you want your music to connect and relate with the audience…You can’t write a song if you don’t have the patience to look around you and observe the world. It is the world and people that truly inspire your songwriting to begin with.”
After writing her first official song, Winner decided she wanted to share her music with the world. Successfully doing this took both patience and research. She waited until she was gifted a recording mixer for Christmas, which allowed her to professionally record her music instead of using software on her phone. She then had to research the complex world of music distribution, eventually settling on DistroKid as a distributor. The platform allows her to share her music on all the streaming platforms you can imagine. “I’m definitely not an expert with music releasing, but I am getting better at figuring out how it all works. It’s a lot more than you think it is, but if you’re dedicated to music and sharing it, the time put into the research is definitely worth it,” she noted.
Winner released her first song, “January Rain,” on February 22, 2024. She originally wrote the song in January of 2023 at a time when she was struggling. “I remember being pretty upset about my imperfections, and it being a rainy day, so I wrote about the weather and connected it to my shame and grief,” she explained. She released her second song, “Home,” on March 13, 2024. “Home” was the first official song she wrote, and she credits it as the catalyst for her songwriting career. The song is dedicated to Colette Baine, a Woodgrove student who passed away in August of 2022. “I remember seeing this beautiful picture of her laying on the beach and staring out to the ocean sunrise,” Winner said. “Ms. Hoover [Baine’s mother] had mentioned that that was one of her favorite pictures of her, so I decided to write my song about it.” Winner performed this song in 2023’s Woodgrove Idol competition, moving many in the audience to tears. She believes her faith played a strong role in the writing of this song, helping the writing process go smoothly and creating an end product that was “special and personal.”
Winner credits her private music teacher, her family, and her friends for getting her this far. Her music teacher, Frank Keim, who teaches her piano, guitar, and singing, is her biggest musical influence. She discussed, “He inspired me to release my music, helped me come up with cool riffs for some of my songs, has given me advice on how to make my music sound original, and taught me how to record my music.” Her family and friends are her biggest fans. Her dad, especially, always encourages her to release her music. “They have been with me on my songwriting and music producing journey and have been my support system since day one,” she said.
Keim reports that working with Winner is a fun experience. He says that he is “always surprised by the originality” of the music Winner brings to each practice. He enjoys that he can apply his knowledge of music theory to her songs and finds it “wonderfully gratifying” to watch her music skill develop.
Keep a look out for two new songs from Winner, “Clean Body” and “Movie Screen,” which will release sometime in April or May. She also plans for her first album, “Grown Up in a Blink,” to come out in May or June. Although there are no concrete dates yet, Winner will soon be performing at local gigs and events. If you want to keep up with what she is up to, follow her Instagram @elewinnersmusic, or follow her on Spotify by searching her name.