by Lily McInerney
One week after George Floyd was tragically killed by Minneapolis police officers, IHS senior Ella Roth decided to write a song about police brutality. She did so in just 30 minutes.
“I have been kind of avoiding writing more social-political songs just because for me songwriting is more of a personal outlet than a way for me to make a statement. I’ve always held a belief that I don’t think a person should talk about things like this unless they can do it the right way because otherwise I think it just can come across as insincere. It has to be personal,” said Ella.
The graphic video of George Floyd under the knee of Derek Chauvin is what drove Ella to finally sit down and write more of a politically driven song.
“The song came so quickly to me because when I watched the footage of Floyd being killed I noticed that the police officers hands were actually in his pockets and it really inspired me and it finally felt personal,” said Ella.
She structured much of the song around the image of the officer’s hands in his pockets, creating a powerful and emotionally driven track.
She said she tried to capture his blatant disregard for human life in the image of “searching for loose change” and described the actions as “muscle memory,” the title of the track.
Ella writes many songs on her piano and describes it as, “the focal point of [her family’s] living room because [her] dad wanted it that way. It’s surrounded by all of these jazz musicians.”
For her song “Muscle Memory,” a new focal point of the song is displayed in her Instagram video. Instead of being surrounded by jazz musicians at her piano she surrounds herself with projected images of protesters filling the streets who are holding up Black Lives Matter signs.
Ella said, “I want to use my platform to the best of my ability. The idea to donate the proceeds came after a couple minutes of writing. I feel like putting out a song like this with no intention to help behind it, especially as a white person would be tone deaf. I knew that I wouldn’t want to do anything like that unless I made something of it and tried to help.”
So far, Ella has given $279 in proceeds to the National Bailout Fund, and has committed to donating 100%. Here is the link to listen to Ella’s song/donate to the National Bailout Fund: https://ellajaneofficial.bandcamp.com/track/muscle-memory
