Between meeting with Peer Support, working with the Honor Education Council and volunteering at Teen Line, senior Stella Smyth has made time to focus on her passion for music by self-producing a full musical album.

Smyth’s album, titled “AFTERMATH,” is a collection of nine tracks. Her main inspiration came from artists such as Tove lo, Taylor Swift and Flume. She said that Halsey is her biggest inspiration.

“I love her music. I love her style of songwriting. I love her productions. I just love it all,” Smyth said, “Even the way that I sing is even with that kind of tone. Yeah, I love her productions and I love the way that she sings, and so obviously that’s heavily influenced my music.”

Smyth’s music is based on her personal life experiences and all of her songs come together to create one story.

“What inspired the album [were] things that have just happened in my life,” Smyth said. “I feel like the only way I can properly express how I feel is just by writing about it and producing a song.”

Smyth said that almost every song on the album started off as a sad ballad on the piano. Smyth then changed the chords and produced the music using Ableton, a production software. Smyth had a mentor, Mathew Engst, who she was connected with through her songwriting class when music producer Max Martin visited.

“I have a mic at home and I record in my room and I just produce it out on my computer,” Smyth said. “I have a mentor and he helped me…I would go to him and be like ‘I don’t know how I feel about this sound or this kick right here’ and he would be like ‘Oh, here’s how you can make it better.’”

Senior Livi Richards heard the album before it was made as a collection of demos and singles, but once she heard the album as a whole, her first thought was “wow.”

“I think it was really important for her to collect it into an album because it was the first large collection of songs that were really hers, and together they really show her journey,” Richards said.  “From the first song to the last one, there was such a difference in her ability as a producer and writer and vocalist.”

Smyth said that she was initially nervous about releasing her music, but she is now happy that it is out in the world for other people to hear.

“It was really scary leading up to [the release] because it’s like people reading inside of my head, reading thoughts that I have and how I feel, and that’s terrifying,” Smyth said. “But to have that out in the world — it feels really good because it’s something that I did and it’s something that I can listen to and I can remember how I felt writing it. It’s a tangible thing that marks my progress not only as a musician but as a person.”

Smyth’s album is available on Spotify and Soundcloud.