How Gabrielle Kelly '17 went from the Coffeehouse stage to releasing her first single.
The year is 2015. Students are filling into Dyer Auditorium for that year's Coffeehouse, and then-sophomore Gabrielle Kelly '17 is about to perform Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" with alumni Zach Shaff '16 and Jeff Brown '15. This will be the first time she has ever performed in front of an audience. She doesn't know it yet, but the experience will change her life.
Kelly would return to Coffeehouse the following year, and then as a senior she did something brave. "I performed an original song, which was a big moment for me, because I had always written songs in the quiet of my bedroom," she says. Kelly is a self-described extrovert, but she still felt "stage fright," especially when sharing lyrics that held deep personal meaning for her.
"I don't know if I was ready for that yet, but Coffeehouse gave me the space to do it. That was really the start of becoming comfortable with performance. It was at Moravian."
Fast forward to 2021, and it's evident that Kelly has found her voice. After starting at Berkeley College of Music in Boston, she transferred to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where her ascendant career in the music industry is taking off despite her classes going virtual at the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
"Even though this time was devastating for so many, it allowed my creativity to flow. It sparked a new genre of music for me and official production." Finding creative inspiration in isolation, Kelly "wanted to get into the pop, electronic space." Her professor paired her with producer Gabby O'Leary, and her first released single "Ur Not Satisfied" was born.
"I had this idea for a song on my guitar, and we wrote it for class. Gabby O'Leary produced it within a matter of an hour. He's incredible. When we presented it, the teacher was like, 'Oh my gosh, I didn't expect this at all.'"
Boldly deviating from the acoustic songs she had been writing, Kelly had found an exciting new sound, which she describes as "indie pop new wave with a little bit of soul in it."
While she has a clear talent in performance and songwriting, Kelly's music-industry ambition extends beyond that arena. She's interested in production too (something she began exploring as a student with Tom Bloxam '16 at Moravian). She's especially passionate about A&R (artists and repertoire), which deals with scouting for new talent and pitching artists to record labels. She's keeping her options open, envisioning a future where she balances the business and artistic sides of her career.
"I think at the end of the day, my music has always been the thing that I've been most confident about," she says.
Now, Kelly is eager to return to New York so she can record her forthcoming EP and collaborate with fellow musicians and producers in person. As a side project, she's been interviewing "some cool up-and-coming artists" for an emerging artist podcast that she started with a friend. And, she has been juggling coursework outside of music. After all, she is still a college student with a full plate of responsibilities.
The full-throttled pursuit of music and life in general is inspired by her mom, who passed away when Kelly was young. "I felt like music was a vehicle with which to express the grief that I went through as a young child, whether it was the loss of my mom, friendships, relationships or anything like that. Music is a healer and, and that's really what I want to do."
"The main thing [my mom] said to me was to embrace your passion, to always go for what you're most passionate about." Fortunately for Kelly, Moravian is a place of like-minded people.
"Mrs. Shaugnessy and Mrs. Dubreuil and the people at Moravian inspired me to keep going forward. It doesn't matter if you're taking the classic route or not if it's what's best for you. And you always have to let your passion shine through." For Kelly, the encouragement she had from her community of peers and teachers was pivotal for her journey.
"If Tom Bloxam '16, a student just a grade above me, hadn't led the way for me in production, I probably wouldn't have gotten into that at all. If I hadn't gone to Coffeehouse, or if my friends and teachers hadn't inspired me to sing my original music on the stage, I probably wouldn't have performed as much." Her advice for current students is to seek out the people on campus who will support you.
No matter your passions, search for "the niche group of people, or club, or anything you can find" and "just go for it," she says. "It doesn't matter if it's not what other people think you should be doing. I think that's how you make it in today's world. Be unique and be yourself."