Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ellie Lawrence had completed her post-Voice debut EP.

She just needed the perfect title for the five-song collection.

It came by chance, she tells Voice Views.

“I was telling my bandmate that the album was gonna be like a diary for those who knew me in real life and not just through The Voice,” she recalls. “Twenty-fifteen was a rocky year for me back at home and the only constant I had was music.

“As soon as I had said those words, I looked out the window and we were passing a mural on the wall that said ‘If You Knew Me, You’d Know’ and had lines where random people could come in and write in chalk something about themselves.”

And so the EP, released late last month, is titled “If You Knew Me.”

Ellie was a standout on Season 9 of The Voice, advancing all the way to the Top 24 with her blue hair and distinctive vocals.

Soon after The Voice, she launched a Kickstarter campaign, promising a debut project that would show her “true voice and personality” more than the covers she sang on the show.

Fans made that Kickstarter campaign a success in just two days.

Now Ellie has delivered an EP she calls “a direct look into my emotional life during last year.”

There’s a song called “Unraveled” about heartbreak and frustration. One called “DNA” about realizing one’s self-worth. And one called “Bear Knuckles” about dealing with a tumultuous relationship.

It’s difficult to imagine a more emotionally raw vocal than the one Ellie delivers on “Unraveled.” She says it was the last song written for the EP, the first recorded and “the most difficult for me to get through.”

says the song is “about giving 100 percent of yourself to someone who doesn’t appreciate or deserve you. You’re willing to give all of your time and devotion to them, but they pick and choose when they want to be loving towards you in return.

“I tend to get myself deep into relationships quick, without thinking of the long term or repercussions. The song follows my thought process when a relationship is in its end stages and my emotional journey with that.”

As for the actual recording, Ellie says, “we cut it live and left the sounds of my breathing, the sustain pedal moving and ambient noises in the background. I wanted to make it as raw as possible to get my emotion across. I didn’t want to create a perfect polished album; I wanted it to be honest and live.”

Just like her Kickstarter campaign, Ellie’s EP has been well-received, cracking the Top 10 on iTunes’ singer-songwriter albums chart the day it was released.

Ellie has several upcoming tour dates scheduled for her home state of Georgia, but says she’s also “looking forward to getting to present my music in an intimate and close setting with the fans that made it possible.”

“We are working on a touring schedule with a different concept than just local venues,” she adds. “I can’t reveal much more; it’s still in the production process.”

You can keep up with Ellie through her Facebook page and website. On Twitter, she’s @ellieklawrence.