Making Melodies: How senior Aggie Williams turned her passion for music into a brand new song

Senior Aggie Williams was getting ready to walk out with her friends after her weekly Vocalocity rehearsal at Village Presbyterian Church when Ben Grove, the group’s pianist, approached her. 

“You’re Aggie, right?” Grove said. 

He went on to explain he had written a song that he wanted Williams to sing. Considering that this was the first time the two had ever spoken, Williams was surprised, but agreed to go to Grove’s house to record the song two weeks later after school. 

Five hours and 75 different tracks later, Williams and Grove finished recording “Twisted” — a song about constantly going back to someone you love after breaking up. 

“It was the most tiring thing I’ve ever done,” Williams said. “But it was also the most fun thing I’ve ever been a part of.”

Williams first got involved in music in eighth grade when she was in the ensemble for “Annie” — something she considers her gateway into the music world. She’s been singing  since she could talk, but eighth grade is when she made the decision to fully focus on music. 

“My mom put me in every sport under the sun before eighth grade,” Williams said. “I don’t want to kick a ball, catch a ball or run. That’s not what I want to do with my life. I want to make someone feel good with music.”

After getting involved in Stage Right Performing Arts and participating in dozens of more musicals, Williams began writing her own songs such as “Not Fair” or “Always Vibin’” before recording “Twisted”. As someone who often journals about her day, the pages of her journal soon turned into the words of her melody — something that helped her when singing the different parts of Twisted.

To Williams, musical theater has had a huge influence on her singing and song writing. It put her in new scenarios like being around a more diverse group of people and playing several roles, opening emotions she could write about.

Williams felt that she was able to dive into all those emotions because of the people she surrounded herself with. With most of her theater friends being extremely open about their lives and feelings, Williams felt she could open up in a way she wasn’t able to before. 

“All theater kids are seen as extravagant, outgoing people and that’s exactly who we are,” Williams said. “I love that I’m a part of that community who is so open about their feelings.”

Williams felt she was able to open up while singing “Twisted” — her first song that was recorded with the goal of being released on Spotify. After a month of the uploading process, fixing issues like the base in the song and the pixels on the cover, the song was released on March 28. 

“I was so happy,” Williams said. “That was my dream to have a song on Spotify and for that to be the song was really meaningful to me because he asked me out of the blue.” 

Having written 15 songs, Williams wants to continue making music — hoping to one day release another song on Spotify. Williams feels that singing has had a huge impact on her life, and she wouldn’t be where she is now without it. 

“[Singing] has brought me light, joy and happiness,” Williams said. “It has brought my friends. It’s the basis of everything in life.”