Elizza

“IWROTE THE LETTER, dancing all alone, ‘cause he is gone and now I’m the devil I’ve never known,” croons Palo Alto High School junior Elizabeth Wong, backed by moody synth beats and melancholy piano progressions on her new track, “The voice,” Wong said. “It took me about two years to be confident because my voice changed a lot too and matured a lot.” Wong writes the majority of her songs with her piano at home and defines her music as mostly slow songs and ballads with

Letter.” The song’s haunting low-fi arrangement paints a story of a woeful themes. girl writing letter after letter to someone who doesn’t care for her, “I would describe my sound as a little darker and more slowly losing herself in her fixation with him. Her voice grows mysterious and a little bit unpredictable,” Wong said. “I always soft as the song decrescendos towards the final verses. “I should’ve have like, weird chord progressions at some points in the song, saved her, I could’ve saved her, from writing the letter.” which I think really makes my sound a little more alluring.” Wong, known as Elizza to her listeners, has amassed thousands of streams and monthly listeners since her first single, “Ghost Producing from home of Her” made its debut in 2019. Her videos have garnered over When stay-at-home orders were implemented last March, 300,000 views on YouTube and her fans applaud the evocative Wong found herself with more time to focus on her music. She lyrics and melodies. Wong put out her first EP, titled “Mystery,” spent her summer connecting online with George Fitzgibbon a on Feb. 13. U.K.-based producer to write a collection of songs that would Although she began songwriting in middle school, it wasn’t become her upcoming EP. until freshman year she started recording. However, shelter-in-place orders made studio recording “In seventh grade I wasn’t really confident and I didn’t like my impossible, forcing Wong to develop a new process of working around the restrictions. “Given that we’ve never met and never had a proper face-toface discussion about where we could take the music, it took a fair few mixes to get a style down that we both thought was the way to go,” Fitzgibbon said. “This process is also fairly time consuming due to the time difference between us, but I think we nailed it.” Communicating with Fitzgibbon mainly over text, Wong says the recording and producing process was fun but required a lot more independent work. “Mystery” was recorded completely from home but maintains the same level of quality exhibited by her studio work. “I record on my bed, actually,” Wong said. “I don’t have any professional equipment, but it still works.” Her songwriting process typically takes place over the course of several weeks. It begins with writing chords on her home piano and coming up with melodies. She then writes the lyrics and

A WAY WITH WORDS — Junior Elizabeth Wong poses for the camera, inviting us into the world she creates through vivid lyrical storytelling. “Having a story in a song that’s three minutes is really cool and that’s why I like songwriting — you can say so much in such a short amount of time, and convey so many emotions,” Wong said. Photo illustration: Audrey Joachim

You can access Elizza’s music by scanning this QR code!

Text by SOFIA ANTEBI and DOMINIQUE LASHLEY records a demo to send to her producer. Once her producer creates On “Mystery,” Wong strives to deliver the same vulnerability a track, they work together to finalize the song. and authenticity that has earned her notoriety in the past. “My favorite part of the process was hearing Elizza’s demos “I made these songs according to what I noticed that people for the first time and mentally mapping out how I would begin like about my stuff,” Wong said. “I have a lot of really raw, the production,” Fitzgibbon said. “Taking the bare bones of a emotional songs because that’s what I notice that people tend to song, like piano and vocals, and having the freedom to flesh it out like more.” into a huge cinematic piece is a lot of fun.” Wong describes her new EP as darker and more mysterious

However, when faced with unforeseen bouts of writer’s block, Wong can sometimes struggle with feeling stuck and overwhelmed. “Songwriting can be really stressful “ The songs are not just about being sad, it’s also about how I can get than previous work, highlighting personal struggles as well as self-discovery. For Wong, songwriting allows her to process and reflect on her emotions and negative experiences. One song that especially stands out for Wong because it’s not something you do based on a formula, the melodies just have to away from that dark dives deep into her personal experiences with self doubt and self-acceptance. come out of your head,” Wong said. place.” “There’s a song called ‘Wanted,’ and

“So sometimes I go through really bad — ELIZABETH WONG, junior it’s about me feeling like I messed up a lot, phases of writer’s block, which is when like I’ve done a lot of wrong things and it’s you just can’t come up with anything. And that stresses me out a about me feeling guilty and blaming myself,” Wong said. “I wrote lot, because sometimes it lasts really long.” that song reminding myself that I shouldn’t blame everything on myself.”

Finding her audience Although many of the songs feature melancholy themes, Despite the difficulties, Wong finds joy in the creative process Wong also includes messages of hope for herself and her and considers the most rewarding aspect of what she does to be listeners. seeing the emotional connections her listeners create with her “The songs are not just about being work. Her current top single, “Kid I Used to Be.,” received an sad, it’s also about how I can get away especially positive response from listeners after her lyric video on from that dark place,” Wong said.

YouTube went viral. Her audience related strongly to its coming- “And also just about me convincing of-age themes and haunting verses about losing one’s childhood myself that there’s a light at the end innocence. of the tunnel.” v “It’s about my relationship with my family growing up, how my parents were always fighting Photos: Lynn Lee and Sofia Antebi and stuff,” Wong said. “It’s kind of surprising because I didn’t know such a specifically personal story would resonate with a lot of people.”