Charly Reynolds is not like most teenagers. After graduating high school in May, Reynolds, 18, decided to put college on hold and move to Nashville from Orlando to pursue her dream of being a country music singer. But before moving to Nashville or graduating high school, Reynolds released an album and an EP.
Her first album, "Kickin' Up Dust," was released on May 19, 2017. Her EP, "Kissed Us Goodbye," was released in April and is unique in its own right.
Reynolds said the EP took her six months to make. After Reynolds recorded her first song and hit single, "Wonderland," she was eager to record as many songs as she could for the EP.
"We were kind of hurrying on time because we wanted to record by December," she said. "I wanted more songs out before I moved to Nashville."
Reynolds performed her release concert for the EP on the evening of April 14 at the Lake Eola Band Shell.
Reynolds admits that the EP doesn't have a certain theme to it. Each song that's on the EP has its own meaning and its own story to it, which makes the EP special. Here's how Reynolds breaks down the five songs on her EP.
1. "Wonderland"
The track tops of the EP as the first song.
"I wrote that on my grandma's back porch of 2017. I made up a story and used life instances. Off of the story, I just started writing the song. I know I shouldn't have favorites, but that's probably my favorite one on the album. I was proud of that one"
2. "Shelby's Song"
Charly wrote this song with her middle school P.E. coach.
"He's been writing songs for a long time. We got together and wrote that song. It talks about the struggles of parents being divorced and it's from a mother's point of view. That's another favorite of mine because it's so heartfelt and touching to me and I feel like everyone can relate to it."
3. "Kissed Us Goodbye"
"I knew we had the title and I knew I wanted that to be the title of my whole EP. That was meant to be a fun song. It's fun to sing and fun for people to listen to."
4. "You Were Made For Me"
This song is a beautiful duet.
"I love that song because it's jokingly funny. It was hard because we were singing sarcastically, which is hard to come across in a song. When you performing it, you have to do it looking like you're kidding, or else it sounds like you're coming across as very stuck up or rude. That song is a really fun one to sing and to listen to."
5. "When I Walk Away"
"That was actually Tavie Basarich's song, my guitar player who I write everything with. That was his song to start with and he just never released it. I listened to it, we kind of countrified it a little bit and recorded that one. That one is really fun and upbeat and has been a favorite along the charts."
