“I admire anyone who puts their art out there and shares themselves with the world in that way.”
The music scene may be saturated with pop stars these days, but Bella Rios is offering a bit of a different twist on the scene. Her pop style collides with a rock sound that might make Demi Lovato pique interest.
Starting on the piano when she was five, Rios poured her emotions out through playing, and then in singing. “Before I was comfortable being in front of a band and moving around, the piano was like my home base. I could just sit there, focus on emoting, focus on my vocal techniques a little bit more, and that was my gateway onto stage,” the singer admits.
The singer is now directing her talent and attention to her new single, “Right Now,” which details her final year in college. She always writes about what she is experiencing at the moment, and right now it’s putting a bow on undergrad.
Rios is graduating from Princeton University this year, and she is wrapping everything up in song – not only the memories she’s made, but all the people she has met in the last four years and all of the experiences she has had. It’s been a lot, but the rising star is grateful for it all. She has balanced a music career while pursing an economics degree, which is a challenge in itself that she has taken in stride.
The Aquarian caught up with the singer-songwriter to talk about this new single, finding balance between education and entertainment, and what the future holds.
Where did you get the inspiration to start singing?
Oh! No one has ever actually asked me that! Music has always been part of my life; I grew up in a very musical household, and my mom enrolled me in classical piano when I was five. My dad also made it his mission for me to have a well-rounded music education, so most of my friends hate when I get on aux because I play all the oldies he showed me growing up. I’ve always been musically inclined, or at least surrounded by it.
When I first had this desire to sing, I think I was maybe in my third or fourth grade music class – you know the one where you learn how to play the recorder. For whatever reason, I came home one day and one of my teachers was a voice instructor, and there was this song about sunshine that I just wouldn’t shut up about. I sang it to my mom, and she was like, “Hey, you’re kind of good,” and I was like, “Maybe I should do voice lessons,” and yeah, the rest is history. She supported that and she’s definitely been a major driving force in a lot of my musical pursuits. She’s helped me find opportunities, supported me in achieving them throughout my childhood, and that kind of snowballed into classical voice lessons, joining bands, and to where I am today.
Your latest release is “Right Now.” What drew you to put together a song about your friends moving on from college?
I’m always writing about what’s relevant to me in the current moment – that’s just the easiest thing for me. It’s a cathartic process, but also it gives me so much more to draw on, so much exact emotion and experience to reference in the songwriting process. Even when I do my best to live in the moment today, the fact that I will be graduating and leaving at least this place and this setting, and these interactions with the people I’ve met the last four years… that is constantly on my mind, and it’s just a reality that I’m still grappling with. I’ve had to deal with those emotions and I prefer dealing with things through songwriting, so I had to write something about it.
With this song in particular, I realized I wanted to write it when I was going through my old demos one day, and I had a verse and a chorus of this song already; not in its final form – I edited a lot and obviously added a lot – but I had a very parallel experience in high school during COVID when I was told by my parents that we were moving to Tennessee after my junior year. The thought of starting over for my senior year felt like no one else in the world was experiencing the kind of displacement that I was. I know that sounds so dramatic, but it was a similar feeling I’m feeling right now as I’m being forced out of a situation where I love the people I’m surrounded by. I love the place, and I have to grapple with, or come to terms with, creating a new identity and finding myself in another place again, and I’m not ready. So, when I was flipping through those demos that felt really apropos, and I was like, ‘This is the concept that I need to finish out and bring into context today.’
Is singing pop music your first love, or do you want to eventually expand on your sound?
I wouldn’t say it’s my first love, just because, again, as I mentioned, with my dad being a major musical influence in my life, I grew up with a very eclectic taste being fostered. I wouldn’t say my music is 100% purely pop, because I think naturally, with any artist, anything you’ve listened to and any type of music you love, inspires what you’re writing, even if it’s subliminally or subconsciously. So, I’m open to trying whatever genres or styles feel right to me. I think as you grow as an artist and in your tastes, that can happen naturally. That being said, I always find my writing being pulled back to two places, and that is like pop rock and ballads, because one of my favorite parts of being a musician is performing, and those are the two that feel most authentic to me when I’m on stage. I wouldn’t say I’m tied to it, but I would definitely say it’s one of the things that feels authentic to me.
Did you come up with the melody for “Right Now” first, or the lyrics? What was the process like for putting this tune together?
My songwriting process is pretty structured, so it all kind of generally follows the same flow. I start with chord progression and I’m the most meticulous about lyrics, so those come last to me. I want to be very precise in what I’m saying because that’s where my ears are drawn as a listener, so I want that to be really honest, authentic, and intentional. The progression for “Right Now” was written by the producer I was working with at the time, Dino Zeiss, who is so lovely and fabulous. We laid down those chords, and then my next step is always melody. I basically just hum into a voice memo while the track plays on loop for a few hours, or an hour maybe, and then I finally pick which one I think is the catchiest. Then, I basically word-vomit onto a notes page; write down every emotion I feel about the circumstances, situation, whatever comes to mind, and then I look at the song structure. The verse, pre-chorus, the chorus, and I think conceptually, ‘How do I want to segment these ideas?’ Then, ‘How do I want to tell this story?’ The last step is just fitting the words into the melody, and that’s what the writing process looked like for “Right Now,” except it was segmented into two points of my life. I wrote the first draft when I was a junior in high school and wrote the rest of it and edited it basically as a senior in college. The actual main part of the hook, “I can’t see it right now,” was from the first draft. It’s definitely been tweaked, because I also have a lot more emotional and musical reference having grown in the last five years, but there are remnants of the first verse and a substantial part of the chorus.
In this song, what does the lyric “I can see the forest through the trees” mean to you? Does it indicate what the future holds for you and your friends?
It’s about the thought of this impending potential displacement. It’s something that is scary because I’m losing what I know, what is comfortable, a part of what I love, but I’m also really hopeful. Closing this chapter is going to present an amazing number of opportunities and new things for me to learn and new challenges to face. I think that lyric speaks to two things: first, trying really hard and being able to take a step back in this current moment and appreciate that I still do have another four amazing months to make memories, and it would be a waste to not step back and see that and get in my own head and in my own way and ruin what time I have left. And, also, to see that as much as this is an ending, I have to look past that fear and see it as a new beginning, too.
I hear a lot of Demi Lovato in your vocals and music. Was she an inspiration for you. If not, who is?
Well, first of all, I’m incredibly flattered. Her voice is absolutely killer. I wouldn’t say she was a direct reference in this song, but I admire her as vocalist in general. I feel like there’s a lot of confidence in her style and music, but also a vulnerability and that’s what makes some of my favorite artists so great. If I had to think of other people who really inspire me a lot, off the top of my head – I love Jon Bellion, I love Alessia Cara, I love Reneé Rapp. There’s a million… Olivia Rodrigo, too. Again, my taste is eclectic and I’m always inspired by whatever I’m listening to, whether I know one song by an artist or their entire catalog. I admire anyone who puts their art out there and shares themselves with the world in that way. Demi Lovato wasn’t a direct reference, but I think she’s incredible. I’m greatly flattered.p
As you finish up your senior year at Princeton, looking back, was it difficult to balance school and music? Was music your first passion throughout?
I’ll start with the first question – incredibly difficult. I think that that’s one of the new beginnings that I’m very excited about. As much as I’ve loved my time here at Princeton, I’ve never been in a position where my primary focus and only focus is pursuing my art. As much as I found time here, it’s definitely been a difficult thing to balance, because I’m very Type A, and I want to do well. That kind of speaks to the second half of the question: I’ve had two first passions, and that’s what’s made the balance so difficult. I truly enjoy being in academics. I know that sounds so nerdy, but I like understanding the world around me. I like doing that through academics, through econ and history. (Those are my two favorite subjects, and I find a lot of fulfillment in them.) My music brings me fulfillment as well, and I’m incredibly passionate about both and balancing the two. When one of them impacts my GPA, it has been difficult, but I’ve realized and I’ve learned through the last four years that without both of them, I don’t feel like myself and I don’t feel complete, which I think is a valuable lesson. I’m excited to be able to divert more of my energy to developing my music after these four years are up.
You now have your EP (Sincerely,) and this new song under your belt. What is next? Can we expect a tour?
Oh my God, I would love to. Now that I have all this time… or at least in three months, I’ll have all this time. That’s the goal, and there’s always going to be new music – it’s a constant in my life, and I always want to be sharing it. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, performing is one of my favorite parts of being an artist because I get to share that work, so I’m always performing around campus and in NYC.
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