Meet The Artist
My name is Beth Crowley and I am a singer/songwriter in the Nashville area. I started putting out my original music through my YouTube channel in 2011 and have since released one full-length album, three EPs, and dozens of singles. Some of my most popular songs are based on Young Adult novels like Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, Throne of Glass, and more. My most well-known book-based song, "Warrior," has been streamed on Spotify over 8 million times. In addition to music, I am a huge advocate for mental health and have made many YouTube videos and written multiple songs on the topic. I also recently finished writing my first Young Adult novel that has an accompanying soundtrack of seven original songs that pair with the book.
- My family has always taken our Christmas traditions VERY seriously. My younger sister and I had pictures made with Santa every year until I was a senior in college and she was a senior in high school (I attached pictures of my first and last trip, where you can see it was the same Santa at the same mall for twenty years straight). For us, Christmas season officially started the moment Santa and Mrs. Claus made their appearance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The day after Thanksgiving, we always went to the same local nursery
to pick out a tree and made the same jokes every year as we hung the ornaments- how the fact that I am the oldest child meant that there are far more commemorative ornaments for my childhood than there are for my younger sister. That even sparked a new tradition that continues to this day, where my sister and I each find an unflattering picture of the other and make a "Baby's First" joke ornament (again, see attached for the most recent 2019 ornaments).
Each year we always had the same Outside Lights Strategy Meeting, the same delicate construction of the It's A Wonderful Life town on our dining room table, and the same trip to see extended family in Kentucky and West Virginia. As is the case with most traditions, some have had to evolve and some just aren't feasible anymore. But we still make a point to continue as many as we can and have added fun new ones along the way.
- I always swore that I would never write a Christmas song because I didn't think I could say anything new or different that hadn't already been covered before. Then I started thinking about Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies, where entire relationships are founded on the events of the holiday season. It seems so romantic, the idea of spending all of these Christmas moments with a new love. But what happens if the couple breaks up? All of those beautiful memories and traditions are now going to be associated with an ex by the time Christmas rolls around. And thus "You Ruined Christmas" was born.
- I was actually surprised at how easy it was to write "You Ruined Christmas" once I had the idea for it. I knew I wanted it to sound very traditional so that it could have the element of surprise when the lyrics of the chorus kick in. I also knew I wanted to include some of my favorite Christmas movie tropes in the first verse- the meet-cute, the person that has lost their Christmas spirit, etc. From there the pieces fell into place pretty nicely! I think because it is such a specific genre and topic it was a little easier to write than a non-holiday song.
YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/bethjcrowley)
Instagram (www.instagram.com/bethjcrowley)
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