EXCLUSIVE: Newcomer Bella Rios Talks New Single, “Ever After” & Debut EP, ‘Sincerely,’
Rising pop star, Bella Rios has just released her debut single, “Ever After”. A pop rock anthem, the song is the lead off single to her debut EP, Sincerely,.
To celebrate the single, and the upcoming EP, we got the chance to chat all things Bella with the pop star. From finding her sound to being inspired by Olivia Rodrigo, the singer opens up about what’s to come for her and her fans.
You’re an extremely busy individual. Not only are you in college, but you also have music career. Let’s start off with your music career. Your first single, “Ever After” is out now! Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind the song.
“That song, basically, like almost any other person, I went through a pretty rough breakup. I felt like my world was ending, and I really desperately wanted to get over it, and I use songwriting to help me process most things. I started writing a song that I thought would make me feel better and get those emotions out, and that’s what came out.”
I love the sound of the single. I love your sound. I think that’s one of the things that drew me most to the single, is just you have amazing voice. You started singing and playing music at such a young age. Did you always want to go into Pop, or was it just feeling your way over the years to see what genre you really wanted to fool with?
“It was definitely a gradual progression of learning about myself as a person and as a musician. I started off as a cover artist, primarily doing classic rock, although I definitely did a lot of ballads. It was either Guns N’ Roses or Adele. Those were the two ends of the spectrum every time I was performing. And I love performing both, they definitely speak to the versatility of my voice and of my genre as an artist. But that did lead me to an identity crisis when I started writing my own stuff, because I’d just been influenced by so many things, and I liked so many things that I couldn’t pinpoint what came out of me naturally because I had become so used to trying to be a good imitator.
When I started writing for myself, I would take reference songs from every single genre that I liked, literally from EDM to country, and I would try to write a song every time I went in that imitated one of the favorites that I had selected. After a while, I started realizing the songs that came out of me most easily and felt most natural were either ballads or pop rock, sassy, punky somehow. That’s how I landed on where I’m at today. But it was definitely a long learning process.”
I cannot write music to save my life, so kudos to you for being able to do that. But I have to imagine that doing all of those different genres, you’ve taken a little bit from each of them and brought them into your overall storytelling.
“I would definitely say so – whether it’s in the production or it’s in my melody in one track or it’s in the bass line. I think that’s what I like about the process of putting these songs together now because I see what elements of those different genres that I was inspired by and how I choose to incorporate them into my music now. I think everything that I’ve listened to has influenced how I write and how I perform in different ways. For sure.”
Why was “Ever After” the perfect first single for you?
“I had two top contenders of the songs that I had finished for the EP that I really felt strongly about and felt were really representative of the work I’m doing now. I picked ‘Ever After’ because I wanted to come in releasing music for the first time in a while with a punch. And this song really introduces me as confident in my new voice, my new sound, and myself. I think that’s why ‘Ever After’ was the one.”
Is the second contender on your upcoming EP?
“Oh, most definitely, yes. It’s the lead song on the EP, once it comes out. But yes, it’s definitely there. And it shows that opposite end of the spectrum that I was talking about because it’s a ballad.”
Oh, awesome!
“I think having those two as the leads portrays the whole image of me as an artist that I really want to communicate.”
Well, let’s talk the EP, Sincerely,. How did it come to be and why is this the perfect time for you to be releasing the EP?
“Well, as I said, I’m constantly growing as an artist and as a person, and there were a lot of random things like COVID that ended up putting off my musical endeavors farther than I thought. But this is the perfect time because even though I’m always evolving, I have a confidence in this music that I haven’t necessarily had in everything else I’ve released. I love those songs still, but this is the first project where every single element of every single song I had final approval on. I was a big voice in the other stuff, but this I can say is a 100% mine, which definitely makes it feel a lot more exciting and the perfect thing to represent me to other people when they first hear my music.”
That’s awesome, especially for your first one, for it to be basically a 1000% you with the say in it, that’s not something that happens very often for somebody’s debut album.
“Right. That’s not to say that I didn’t have so many talented people collaborating and contributing to this process, but I do feel like I have full ownership over these in a way that I haven’t had in my other releases. So that’s why it’s particularly exciting to me, and I feel ready to share it with people.”
You’re living in Nashville, you are releasing your EP, and you’re also going to school? How are you balancing all of this?
“I’m a mess. But I’m a happy mess, because if I didn’t have all those elements in my life, I wouldn’t feel 100% fulfilled. I knew that it was going to be chaotic when I took it on, but it is so, so worth it because this is what I love to do. But I’d say, it became a lot easier for me to manage music in addition to my studies and everything about a year and a half ago. When I first came to college, especially because it was still COVID-ish time, and I couldn’t do live performances very easily, I put it to the wayside. Then I had a performance when COVID was dying down, around the beginning of my sophomore year. After I walked off-stage again, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. This is why I thought I’ve been experiencing college and seasonal depression. I just haven’t been doing music.’
And ever since then, I’ve just made it a priority in my life. Even when I’m at school and busy with all this stuff, it’s what I do every second I’m not studying or seeing friends, because it brings me that much joy, and I wouldn’t feel complete without it. That being said, it is difficult, but it’s so worth it, and I’m so excited.”
Is there a tour planned for this Summer that we can hopefully expect?
“Oh, I would absolutely love, love, love to play live and tour. There’s not anything like that in the works yet, although I’m always performing at Writers Rounds and Open Nights when I’m home in Nashville. And I will be in Boston this summer for an internship. Hopefully I’ll be looking for opportunities there. Any opportunity I have to sing live, I will take it, but nothing formal yet.”
Touching back on what you just mentioned about taking a break for the music during COVID and then coming back and hitting that stage, it sounds like you found home again?
“Most definitely. The transition to college is hard for anyone, but I think I was especially feeling it and I didn’t realize it because I had just not made it a priority. I was stressed with other things, new friends, new classes, all that stuff, a new environment. But prioritizing music again really was a grounding experience. Getting back on stage was a grounding force for me. It was an escape that I had missed very, very much.”
Is there a dream collaboration one day that you would love, love, love?
“Oh my God, there are so many. Okay. Can I do a few?”
Yes, absolutely.
“Okay. For what I consider classic rock and my oldies playlist that I listen to with my parents, I would die to sing with Stevie Nicks. But I love everyone. I love Zeppelin. I love Heart. I love AC/DC. I don’t know if I could sing it, but I would try. I love everything. But the first that comes to mind is probably Stevie, or unfortunately he’s not alive anymore, but I love Freddie Mercury. He’s one of my biggest idols. That would be a dream. And then one more contemporary artist. I am a massive, massive, massive fan of Olivia Rodrigo. Listening to Sour really made me feel more confident in my approach and what I wanted to do with my music, and made me realize that there is an audience for what I want to write. And she’s been super inspirational as I’ve been working on this stuff. But yeah, there’s so many I could think of, but those are probably my main.”
That was actually going to be one of my next questions for you was, did Olivia Rodrigo inspire your music? Your music has a lot of similarities to hers?
“Yeah. I wrote, as I said, ‘Ever After’, a while ago, and the big thing that I was trying to figure out for a few years was the correct way to approach the production. I knew I liked rock, I knew I liked pop, I knew I wanted to merge them. But listening to Sour definitely was like, ‘Oh, this is doable in a way that’s popular.’ So it definitely emboldened me. I absolutely love her. She’s great.”
“’Ever After” is a song you’ve had in your pocket for a couple of years now, how did the song change from the beginning to what we finally are hearing now?
“Basically, just the production. I wrote it with two super, super talented writers, Jess McAvoy and Arthur Pingrey, and we just wrote it with an acoustic guitar. It sounded more like a ballad, but the lyrics and the melody were exactly as they are now. I knew I loved them. My mom was obsessed with the tagline of, ‘You’re such an asshole.’ And neither of us were going to let it go. And at the time, it was a lot more scandalous because I was 14 or 15 when I wrote it. She was like, ‘You should wait to put it out, Bella.’ And that was the right choice. Basically, it was just a matter of bringing that acoustic version to a pop punk song. And that really just took the right person who could hear my references and see what I wanted to bring out of the song.”
I’d love to hear a stripped-on version of it, just you and the acoustic guitar. I think that would be beautiful.
“Maybe one day for sure. I play acoustic at all the open nights in Nashville, so there’s definitely some videos of it up somewhere, I’m sure all over my TikTok. But yeah, maybe one day.”
What prompted the move to Nashville? Why not LA or New York City? Why Nashville?
“Honestly, that was a matter of family things, not music, but it turned out to be so serendipitous. It was super conducive to me meeting musicians, meeting writers, getting out there, feeling comfortable in the music industry because it’s just so accessible there. I absolutely love Nashville, but I didn’t move there for music, although I would’ve.”
I feel like sometimes Nashville gets a bad name because people think that it’s only for country artists. But it’s so much more than that.
“No, it’s definitely expanding, it’s growing. People are moving there that write and perform all sorts of genres. And I think it’s becoming this amazing collaborative melting pot. One of the things that I do think is unique about Nashville is that as a music city, is that everyone is so friendly, and it really is a community of musicians. You feel like you’re surrounded by family every time you walk into a writer’s room or into a writing session. It’s a very special city. I love it.”
To jump back to your EP, is there a song that you’re especially excited for fans to hear?
“I handpicked these out of a plethora that I’ve written over the last five years. Each and every one is one that I’m excited for, but if I had to look at them, oh my God, I literally like all of them, which I guess is a good thing.
My two favorites other than ‘Ever After’… Oh my God, this is so hard. The two that I think are probably deeper cuts that are special to me are ‘In The Dark’ and ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’, just because I think they show different parts of my personality and my growth than the other songs. And they definitely are a little bit more introspective than the others, which made them really important to my emotional development. When I listen to them today, they still mean as much to me as they did when I wrote them. I love those two for sure.”
What are you hoping fans get from the album?
“I always say that one of the things I love about music is that you can interpret it however you want and need in that moment based on your own circumstances and experiences. So I don’t want to say or put a direct message onto anything that I want people to take away. I want people to love the music. I want them to listen to it, that’s really all I care about. But I’d say really, whatever comfort or whatever joy you’re needing from these songs in the moment that you listen to them, I hope they can bring that to you because that is what music does for me. It is my crutch in the most difficult of times, and it’s the playlist to my life when I’m dancing in my room with my friends. Whatever you need it to be, I hope it is.”
Where can fans find you on social media?
“Literally everywhere possible. All my socials, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, which I still am trying to figure out how to use, they’re all @IAmBellaRios, and my YouTube, you can just look up my name. And yeah, I’m posting there constantly, teasing songs and release dates. There’s where you can find me the easiest.”
As we wrap the interview, I have one final question for you today, besides the EP, is there anything else fans can look forward to from you this year?
“There are definitely some surprises sprinkled between the releases, which I think are really going to keep up the energy and the momentum. And there’s some twists that I’m really, really excited for. Keep an eye out, is all I can say, for sure.”
Sincerely,, will be released on May 17th. You can pre-save the EP now here! “Ever After” is available on all streaming platforms! Make sure to give it a listen!
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.