The album cover for “The Fool”, Ella Giordano’s debut musical single.
By Rose Cohen ’22 & Emma Watkins ’23
Arts & Entertainment Editor & Staff Writer, Copy Editor
In the spirit of a recent art seminar they took at Amherst College, titled “Doing What You Don’t Know How to Do,” Ella Giordano ’22 has been focusing on taking risks and developing new skills. This has led to the recent release of their debut folk-pop single, “The Fool.”
Giordano wrote “The Fool.” from their childhood bedroom in Northampton, Mass., having relocated there due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Returning to this space encouraged them to re-familiarize themself with the curiosity they felt as a child.
“I didn’t know how to do anything when I was eight years old, and that did not stop me,” Giordano said. “I would write songs all the time, I’d make plays and dances … [As] a child, you don't need any qualifications to do anything, you just do it.”
This uninhibited mindset helped them create “The Fool.” and embrace fun, which they described as “the guiding feeling” of their current creative process.
Before rediscovering their childhood creative freedom and curiosity, Giordano struggled to make music without feeling the pressure of perfection. Upon entering Mount Holyoke and experiencing the challenges of being a first-year, they took a break from writing music, as it had started to feel like a chore. They even stopped listening to certain music, because they wanted to avoid seeing singer-songwriters pursue what they wanted to do. During that time, they focused on their studio art major, which did not cause the same creative burnout as music.
Giordano recognized the benefits of taking a “little break from music,” while also acknowledging the drawbacks. “I ended up getting really bitter. I think it kind of was ruining my life to not be making music,” Giordano said, reflecting on that period. “There were a lot of ugly feelings surrounding music.”
This hiatus was only a blip on their musical timeline. Their love of music developed early on, stemming from a love of musical theater that began with auditioning for a community theater production of “Annie” at their parents’ request in third grade.
“My parents really knew what they were doing with that one, too,” Giordano said. “They were like, ‘Okay get in the car, we’re going to “Annie” auditions.’”
Giordano described themself as a “shy kid” before becoming involved with musicals. “Ever since [starring in ‘Annie’] I’ve been a diva, to be honest with you,” Giordano said, laughing.
Building on the newfound confidence music provided them, they declared themself a singer-songwriter in the seventh grade. That same year, they began studying music at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts, a regional public charter school in South Hadley, Massachusetts. While attending PVPA, Giordano sang and played piano. They described the experience of engaging with music every day as “a dream.”
Although Giordano’s formal music education began with PVPA, they wrote their first song at the age of six. Throughout their childhood, friends of their family, also musicians, nourished their growing love of music. “I’ve been very lucky to grow up around people who have encouraged that kind of thing for me,” Giordano said.
Giordano has often found themself writing about love. “A lot of songs that I write end up being about love in some way,” Giordano said. “How cheesy and how true. And not always romantic love,” they mused, before describing a song they wrote about their friend’s dog, Lucas, in the 11th grade.
“The Fool.,” however, stays in the realm of romantic love, discussing what Giordano described as a “whirlwind of a relationship.”
Giordano categorized “The Fool.” as a breakup song. “Yeah, everyone loves a breakup song,” they said, but explained it’s more about finding themself after their relationship ended.
Before writing “The Fool.,” Giordano was having trouble letting go of their relationship. “There were some feelings about the breakup that had not been spoken out loud yet … [until] I started doing my thing and speaking out loud and floodgates opened,” they said.
Influenced by singer-songwriters like Phoebe Bridgers, Carole King and Sara Bareilles, Giordano values honesty and emotional intimacy in their music.
Giordano brainstorms lyrics out loud — speaking to the air and then figuring out the tune. “It already sort of is conversational to begin with, because I’m sort of imagining I’m talking to someone. … That’s what I like about Phoebe Bridgers; it totally does just feel like she’s talking to me, and we’re just like girlies hanging out,” they said.
When writing, Giordano moves quickly. They explained if they don’t write a song within three days, they typically won’t finish it. Giordano wrote the first verse of “The Fool.” with their guitar in an hour, using the only three chords they knew: D, A and E.
“It was crazy, it just kind of fell into my lap, like out of the sky. Suddenly, there was a song, which is kind of cool and not always how my writing process goes,” they said.
To avoid getting lost in their thoughts, Giordano writes about specific moments. In “The Fool.,” Giordano reflects on a series of actual tarot readings that guided them through their breakup.
The first verse of the song mentions tarot cards, such as the Three of Swords, Death reversed and The Fool. Giordano explained this reading epitomized the headspace they were in after the breakup. “Death [reversed] is about rebirth in tarot, and, as it’s been told to me, resistance to change,” they said.
According to Giordano, The Fool card centers around new beginnings, new opportunities and taking a leap of faith. As someone recently heartbroken, Giordano initially resisted the meaning of this card. “It’s like, I don’t want new beginnings, I want to go back [to the relationship], when it was fun, not sad,” they said, summarizing the first verse.
The second verse revolves around the Ten of Swords, Strength reversed and The Fool. Giordano explained the Ten of Swords alludes to feelings of betrayal, while Strength reversed focuses on looking inward to find self-confidence. Due to the card’s appearance in all three readings, Giordano repeats “I’m The Fool” throughout the song’s chorus, reflecting on what its recurrence might mean at each moment the three readings take place.
Giordano described the reading mentioned in the last verse, which included the Queen of Cups, The Sun and The Fool, as a positive one. “The last tarot is sort of me coming back to myself and finally moving forward,” Giordano said.
As the constant throughout the three readings, The Fool took on a different role in each verse. A card of new beginnings, it prompted Giordano to embrace new opportunities instead of dwelling on the past.
“[In] the end it’s like, yeah, we’re healing, we’re growing, we’re expanding, we’re moving forward, we’re writing songs, we’re releasing [the song],” Giordano said.
After finishing the song, Giordano played it for their dad, who encouraged them to keep going with songwriting and recording.
When asked where the song was recorded, Giordano pointed across their room, in the direction of their garage.
Full of dreamy reverb and echoes, the song mirrors the environment in which it was recorded, which was vital to Giordano’s creative process.
“One clean vocal take just didn’t sound like what I was hearing,” they said. “Not like metaphorically, like ‘I was hearing the song,’ but this was actually what I was hearing [in] my garage. … It’s paved, and there [are] echoes.”
Within the first few seconds of the song, birds begin chirping. Giordano clarified the bird sounds were already there, outside their garage. They wanted to place the listener in their recording environment, so they made sure to accentuate the birds.
“I think a lot of recorded music is way too sterile and too smooth,” they said. “I’m a little quirky and I do double takes and I have bird sounds,” they joked.
In addition to accentuating the atmosphere of the recording space, Giordano explained they used a method called doubling, in which multiple audio recordings are overlaid. They used this for both vocals and guitar, which provided them a fuller sound.
Even though “The Fool.” is Giordano’s first single, they did not find its release daunting. Part of the reason was because they initially had no intention of sharing it with anyone — without the pressure of potential reactions from listeners, Giordano was able to more readily embrace pushing boundaries with their music. Now that “The Fool.” is out in the world, Giordano said, “I just want people to feel. I want it to bring up whatever it’s going to bring up for you.”
“[In] life and in terms of passion projects, [the idea of perfection] shrinks your world. … If I’m being honest, I don’t know how to play guitar. I don’t know how to produce. The songwriting thing … I did it, so I know how [to] now,” they said. For Giordano, the risk paid off — and they encourage others to take chances with their projects, too.
“My closing remarks is that you go make art, people. Stop being bitter, stop being jealous and go do things you don't know how to do,” they declared.
“The Fool.” is available to stream on iTunes, Spotify and Apple music. Giordano is currently writing songs for a five-track EP, expected to be released sometime this fall.