Toxic Love

GIRLS WRITE NASHVILLE ANNOUNCES MARCH 28TH SING THROUGH THE QUARANTINE DRIVE-IN LISTENING PARTY EVENT & KICKS OFF SPRING FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

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Today, Nashville-based, nationally-acclaimed 501c(3) Girls Write Nashville* kicks off their spring fundraising effort, which will continue until March 28th. Donations will go toward future free programming for Title I schools. Supporters will receive an advance copy of the album, merchandise, perks, and access to additional virtual concerts and workshops. Click HERE to donate.  

Girls Write Nashville is also thrilled to share “Toxic Love,” the single from the program’s newest student-written and produced album Sing Through The Quarantine. “Toxic Love” was written and performed by 8th grader and program participant Gentry Wooten. The album is set for release on March 26th and will be celebrated with a Drive-In Listening Party on March 28th at the United Way of Greater Nashville. The album will be broadcast in full from 3pm-4pm CST via WXNA’s Teen Power Radio Hour. Click HERE for more listening party information.  

LISTEN: “TOXIC LOVE”  

Each season, students enrolled in the program work with professional female artist mentors, learn to write and produce original music in a supportive community of peers, and are guided through the vulnerable process of releasing that work into the world. Due to the onset of COVID-19, the program, like countless others, was forced to adapt as Safer-At-Home initiatives began just as the students were preparing to record. Girls Write Nashville pivoted and arranged a remote-recording project and created a full suite of low-cost virtual classes for K-12 students. Students each wrote a “song from quarantine,” then worked, for the first time in program history, on recording their own songs at home, using a cloud-based recording app. Songs were then sent to local female studio musicians to help complete the tracks. The result is an inspiring, entirely remotely-recorded album of youth-written songs about life in 2020 that ranged from rap and spoken word pieces about racial justice to a cheeky trance-pop take on toxic relationships and social distancing, a screamo-metal catharsis about the pandemic, and bittersweet, beautiful embraces of the full emotional range of loneliness and isolation.  

“So much of the value of Girls Write Nashville is in learning leadership skills: becoming artistically resilient, speaking authentically, advocating for your voice, and overcoming self-doubt and fear of rejection,” says program co-founder Jen Starsinic. “Not making a record this year really wasn’t an option to us. It just didn’t seem within our mission or what we try to teach and model for our participants.”    

“Being in this program brought so much excitement to my day,” commented one young participant. “I really looked forward to this safe space where I could be creative and have a good time. I learned more about music and how much effort it really takes. I really appreciate music more now. I have had the opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings in my melodies and verses. Girls Write Nashville is the best program yet! Thank you to all the loving and amazing people involved.” 

Girls Write Nashville and their co-ed wing Loudmouth Community Music currently offer free Girls Write Nashville programs to certain MNPS schools, their Girls Write Nashville All-City Mentorship program open to all students in Davidson County, and low-cost ($20-40/month) co-ed Loudmouth Community Music K-2nd, 3rd-5th grade, and middle and high school classes. All programs are taught by the organization’s trained trauma-informed teachers using original modernized music education curriculum focusing on songwriting and production and guided by the values of equity and empowerment. Interested students should go to www.girlswritenashville.com to complete a basic registration information form and will be contacted by a staff member to coordinate enrollment.    

*ABOUT GIRLS WRITE NASHVILLE:  

Girls Write Nashville is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to empower expression and build a creative music community and mentorship for girls. Started in 2016 as a community arts project on a $2,800 Metro Arts THRIVE grant, it has since grown into a vibrant small nonprofit start-up serving over 200 students and has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, USA Today, The Tennessean, The Nashville Scene, and American Songwriter Magazine, amongst others. It is proud to be one of the only music education organizations nation-wide designed from the ground up to ensure the values of equity and empowerment in its program structure and curriculum. 

By focusing on community-building, authenticity, and the vulnerability of creative risk-taking, Girls Write Nashville participants not only receive a world-class music and songwriting education, but they find their voice: building the confidence, leadership, self-advocacy, and social-emotional skills needed to truly thrive as human beings in any arena.  

The organization is honored for support from partners such as Morris Light & Sound, USA Today Network/Gannett Foundation, Hattie B’s, Predators Foundation, Bart Durham Injury Law, Fanny’s House of Music, Green Iris Records, BMI Foundation, D’addario Foundation, and Alphagraphics.