Lily ’23 releases single produced in music business class

By Sierra Smith, Communications Specialist

Only two people signed up for the vocal ensemble class Lily Mozzi ’23 was planning to take; two people, she points out, is unfortunately not enough for an ensemble. 

While Lily had expected a singing elective, this challenge gave both her and Vocal Music Director Dee Hammonds a chance to try something new. Lily and Ngina McGruder ’23 became the pilot students for Hammonds to launch a new unique course, Rising Stars, a music business class. 

“One of my passions is developing artists, so I’d been wanting to try a class like this for a long time,” Hammonds said. “Specifically, I saw an opportunity for us to provide a class really focused on music business. We’re here in Music City, [near] Music Row, so it just felt like something that was needed.” 

Students were paired with a mentor in the music industry. They recorded in a studio and designed cover art. Additionally, they heard from many industry professionals on topics including production, copyrighting, and publicity. 

Lily enjoyed the class so much that she’s taking it again this year. In it, Lily’s interest in songwriting was fueled to the point of passion. 

“I’ve been singing since preschool,” Lily said. “I started writing songs around seventh grade, but in the past year, I’ve gotten a lot more intense about my writing. I like writing about feelings; it’s just like my calling, I guess.” 

Writing about feelings is a common theme in songwriting and capitalizing on shared experiences and emotions is a skill Lily is already developing. 

In class last year, she focused her work on creating a song for her grandfather who was 98, sick, and living alone in a nursing home. While the song was meant to be a gift to him, to lift his spirits, Lily’s grandfather passed away while she was still writing it. 

As a result, Lily had to change many of her lyrics and relearn the song at the last minute — while traveling to her grandfather’s funeral — in order to record on the class’s timeline. 

“I really did want him to hear it before he died,” Lily shared, her voice still tinged with sadness. “But I guess it kind of worked out in a way because a lot of people have been able to connect to this song. I’ve had so many people come up to me after they listened to it and say how it made them cry because it really touched them because they lost someone and they were having a really hard time and they connected to the song, which as a songwriter is probably one of your proudest moments.”

Lily presented the song, titled “Let You Fly,” during the Chamber and Vocal Music Concert in December 2019. 

“When we first heard it, we were all like ‘Oh my gosh, this is beautiful.’ And when we got to the listening party, her whole family was there and you could tell they were all very moved by the finished product,” Hammonds shared. 

Following the performance and the end of the semester, the future of “Let You Fly” was up to Lily. In September, she took the last steps necessary to get her single distributed. 

“When I got my first confirmation email saying that my song was now live on Spotify and Apple Music, it felt really good and exciting,” Lily said.

In a heartwarming twist of fate, that first confirmation email stating that “Let You Fly” was officially available for streaming on major listening platforms landed in Lily’s inbox exactly one year after her grandfather’s passing. 

“I remember running up to my dad and screaming ‘It’s live, it’s live’ because I was so happy to have finally finished the whole project. It felt very rewarding, and I know it was special for my dad because it was for his father,” Lily shared. 

You can stream “Let You Fly” now on most major music streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and YouTube under the artist name LilyGrace.