Stories Behind Songs: Ella Choi on “You’re My Home”, “Long Way Home”, “Label”, “Blind Man” and “Paper Thin”

Since Ella Choi went viral performing an acoustic version of “You’re My Home” with Phoebe Merrill, she’s been stacking her schedule with releases. On a sunny afternoon, we sat down to chat about her soon-to-be five song catalog.

The single cover for "You're My Home".

If you’re familiar with Ella’s work, it’s most likely because of the viral video of Ella and Phoebe playing “You’re My Home”. Ella is humming into a harmonica while Phoebe sings comfortingly. The video feels cozy and like you’re part of an unofficial family, essentially the point of folk music. 

Ella’s hometown in Ohio fostered much of her adoration for the genre. She was one of the only people in her circle who moved away for college. Though she misses family and friends, being away makes the briefer periods of time she spends at home feel more valuable.

A similarly positive sentiment was the inspiration behind “You’re My Home”, Ella’s latest release. It was the first song she and Phoebe ever wrote together, “We're both in long distance relationships, but we both kind of said, like, ‘While it sucks sometimes… I feel like I'm very independent here, and I do what I want… I'm, like, pursuing my dream, and… it's just nice because I have my individual life, and he has his individual life… [and] we both support each other.’”

The single cover for "Long Way Home".

This type of comfortable love is a common thread between this track and Ella’s two other released songs. Her recent single, “Long Way Home”, was written because “I wanted to write a more upbeat and happy song. And I sat down with that guitar riff, and I just kind of said what I was feeling that day… I didn't feel like I had written a ton of love songs, even though, like, I'm in love and I have so much to, like, write about. I just had never… had an easy time writing about it for some reason.”

I note that this is ironic considering that her entire released discography thus far has consisted of love songs. She elaborates that her writing style used to be more down-tempo. Now, her writing tends to represent her “fairy dream land”.

The single cover for "Label".

In such a dreamland, as she states in the love song “Label”, she’s waking up in the mountains. She informs me that she specifically means somewhere out west, “I've never been out west… I really want to go… potentially [to] Montana.” 

I’m fascinated by the complexity of the track. It’s very sweet, but a love song that’s purely positive is rare. One lyric is, “Convincing you and me that I’m carefree just like you”. She explains, “I'm just kind of an over-thinker, like, I am not one of those people that’s like, ‘Oh, whatever!’ I have to think about what could possibly go wrong in every scenario… I feel like, when I'm around someone that's more carefree, it's just so relaxing for me.”

Ella Choi performing in the Sisters in Song showcase at Nashville’s Exit/In, photo by Shelby McHugh.

The way she describes herself as “high-strung” with worry translates a little into how she’s approached another upcoming release, “Blind Man”. The song originated when “something happened in the news, where I just felt…. so frustrated and so sad and felt like so many people are just blinded by, like, politics, and what… they’re told they should believe… that they don't even take a step back and think about… morals.”

The first time I heard the song at a Belmont University Writer’s Showcase, Ella made a disclaimer before playing it, with the intent of “[Not wanting it] to feel… super angry, attacking anyone… because I just want people to be able to listen to it and, like, reflect on their own actions.” She does the same as she’s playing it.

What’s especially cool about how Ella wrote the song is that there truly is no finger pointed directly at any side of the political spectrum. She notes that, “One of my friends was like, ‘Well, to be honest, like, I know you wrote it with, like… your viewpoint, but like, people could take [it] either way.’”

A sneak peek at the single cover for "Paper Thin".

Songs are meant to guide you anywhere. It’s why artists will sometimes make emotional posts preceding releases, saying things like “Listening to my album for the last time while it’s still mine”. They want people to make their own interpretations and develop their own relationships with songs. This is the inspiration behind another upcoming release, “Paper Thin”.

“‘Paper Thin’, I wrote about, like, hearing a song and then being, like, taken back to the memory you have with that song, because I think that's so crazy,” she says.

Some songs that bring back memories for her include “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker (reminding her of high school friends), “Say Hey (I Love You)” by Michael Franti & Spearhead (her mother used to play it for her), and Mt. Joy’s self-titled album (which also reminds her of high school).

 Hopefully listeners can associate Ella’s songs with similarly heartwarming memories. You can stream “You’re My Home”, “Label” and “Long Way Home” on all platforms now.