The call to create rings differently in every artist. Lindsay Ell’s Calgary roots hold the mission of making a difference. In her exemplary career, Lindsay has always seen the size of her reach as secondary to the good she’d do with her platform. Ell’s commitment to vulnerability has been unwavering, inspiring fans to do the same within their own lives. A musician recognised for her humanitarian accomplishments in tandem with her brave discography is the resonant voice of power in an unpredictable world.

LATEST RELEASES

Fresh off of the release of her EP love myself, Lindsay’s single “i shouldn’t call you” is a soundtrack for the honest struggle of coming to terms with realizing someone doesn’t fit in your life anymore. love myself served as a snapshot scratching the surface of her works to come. The single is a perfect follow-up to her EP, shedding light on the pieces of life that no longer quite fit after finding yourself. “I wanted to make music that made me so excited in the studio,” she recalls, “that felt like it had a meaning and a message behind it that went beyond the music.” 

Lindsay’s influences are found in artists who operate outside of genres, existing as themself. The country influences Lindsay was surrounded by while living in Calgary remain in her music. She takes with her the differentiation in the country genre that every song has a unique message and story. Lindsay’s music reflects a unique mosaic that gives her the qualifications of her own inspirations. Recalling a time where she’d forgotten her purpose, Lindsay’s recent projects are a liberation. It “feels like I am finally free,” she says. “Society puts us in boxes, in many different categories, but as human beings on this planet we can also put ourselves in boxes – and sometimes we don’t even know it. These past couple years have been me really coming back to myself.”

On love myself, though, she creates “from a place where anything is possible. “ She told herself, “I can walk into the studio and I can record any instrument, any kind of sound I want to create – nothing is off limits.” Her focus thus became reclaiming her voice, recording music with a message. The resulting EP is a project “that is more honest, more vulnerable, and has the ability to connect with people because it’s real,” she concludes. For her Apple Music Sessions, Lindsay has released an acoustic version of her single "pain tolerance" and covered Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood". 

OFF THE RECORD 

For Lindsay Ell, music making means nothing without using her voice like a megaphone. This has always been truer: “I know for myself, having gotten into the music industry as a very young girl, that I wanted to give back and make a positive impact. To me, all of the music doesn’t men anything if we can’t use it for good. Using my platform to be vulnerable, share my story, impact other people to do good in their own eyes, or learn more about themselves – that’s always been my foremost goal.”  Ell describes her time with the Clinton Global Initiative as having been “really inspiring. It was amazing,” she says “to be around so many humans wanting to do good in the world, wanting to give back.” The words of those using their platforms to give back all grounded Ell in the purpose behind her creative projects. Recognised with a CCMA Humanitarian award, Lindsay’s Make You Movement is an established change making organization. “It’s a huge fundraising arm,” she says, through which she’s been able to “give back to a lot of causes that I really believe in.”

Lindsay Ell’s career shows that silence isn’t an option. The song “Make You” was written about Lindsay’s story of being a survivor as a young girl. Lindsay’s involvement in working with child victims of sex trafficking reiterated the power in storytelling — a strong bond of her musical and humanitarian projects. 

CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE

While nothing makes Lindsay happier than standing in front of her fans and touring, she recognizes that getting to that point is more complex now than it has ever been. “It’s one thing not knowing how to reach fans I want to meet, it’s another thing knowing I can’t reach all of my fans,” says Ell of the ways digital music sharing and algorithms challenge artists to get their work into the ears of those who want to hear it. While working on Canada’s Got Talent with Howie Mandel and Lily Singh, they shared steps in their careers where they felt the need to move to the U.S. to find success. Borderlines are secondary to the quality of the art itself in the contemporary industry context, one which “is changing every day,” she notes. She sees the accessibility of art as an opportunity for artists to find success anywhere. “When you make great art, it will cut through,” she says, no matter where you are, or what industry barriers stand in your way. “At the end of the day,” she continues “I can only affect what I can control, and what I can control is the quality of the art. The rest is out of my hands.” Everything, she concludes, needs to have meaning behind it: “that potency is the thing that is going to break through.”

With Shania Twain being Lindsay’s main motivation to begin singing, it’s particularly exciting that Lindsay closed out 2024 with an electric performance alongside Shania Twain on New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. With her role as lead guitarist for Shania Twain’s “Come On Over” Las Vegas residency and tour continuing into the summer and her own full album expected to arrive later this fall, 2025 is set to be another landmark year for Lindsay Ell.