“Mysterious, and edgy, and nonchalant – That’s what my spotify profile gives,” joked koolxn, better known at Wayzata as Bella Williams. You’ve probably seen her in the hallways, but you likely haven’t seen that spotify profile. She’s been releasing music for years. “I’m just a normal person, I don’t know… I just like making music,” she explained to me.
Sitting in Blackwater Coffee and Cafe in Minnetonka with me and her girlfriend, Leyna, she sipped a matcha latte while talking about everything from plug-ins and inspiration to Minecraft and famous music artists. That inspiration, according to Bella, has a few significant sources. “The relationship I’m in… my friends affect me musically,” she shared, elaborating that the input she gets helps her to make her songs better and if “something sucks,” her close friend and frequent collaborator, Dean, will let her know. Even her stage name is about the connections she has with people – it pays homage to her sister and the YouTube channel they had together… and the Roblox usernames of 2020.
Those opinions, as well as the validation she receives from other people, have really helped her to improve her songs and push her to keep releasing them. “Somebody actually came up to me and was like, ‘Oh, I listened to your music,’” she commented, “That was like, d*mn… I didn’t realize that people actually, like, listen to it.” After pausing for a second, she continued in a sense of mild disbelief, “Unironically, like in their free time, they’re like ‘Yo, put some koolxn on.’ …that’s so weird to me.”
Her listeners have grown, too. Showing her Spotify analytics, she told me about her top listeners locationally. “It used to be, like, Maple Grove because I would listen to my own music… and that would be majority of [my] streams.” Her song, TAKE ME AWAY, peaked with over a thousand plays in a day after being added to a playlist by someone in Finland. “I was like, what? Some people in Finland were listening to my music which was.. interesting.” she laughed from the unexpectedness of it all.
However, the 95 monthly listeners globally that Bella’s accumulated isn’t why she releases her music – she does it for fun and to share it with friends or people who are curious. Compliments and validation don’t hurt either. On her TikTok page (@koolxn), she mentioned that when people tell her they “really mess with” her songs, it means the world. “I mean, somebody was like, ‘I wish you success’ … That’s what keeps me going.”
She has come a long way since she started writing songs around 5th grade on Google Slides presentations with Dean. There was a break between then, when they would pretend to go on tours and were in their band, Metro, and now, where they both release songs fairly regularly.
For Bella, her interest in writing songs picked up around two years back. In that time, she started releasing new music – three albums as well as numerous singles and collabs, amounting in thirty-three tracks, to be exact.
Her writing process on these songs is generally music first, lyrics second. She’ll go find a sound or a beat to sample and start building a background off of it. For those who are curious, Bella finds a lot of samples on YouTube for drums, as well as some on Looperman and BandLab.
She also likes using plug-ins, specifically Serum, Vital, and OTT. With OTT, her emphasis was on the need to mix vocals. She really recommends using a compressor (like on OTT) on raw vocals, especially to boost the high end of the sound just enough.
Then comes finding the words to go with and recording them on a Røde Mic (paired with a Scarlett audio interface) to put into Ableton (her software of choice). “When I make my lyrics, I want it to make sense… It’s nice when people can relate to them as well,” Bella revealed, also noting that when writing about something in particular, she likes to just sit and visualize what she is putting into words.
Writer’s block, or simply ‘disinterest’ as she described it, definitely also happens to all music artists. When I asked her about how it affects her, her response was pretty straightforward: “I just give up… sometimes.” That, or she goes and talks with the people she finds important to try and find the words and inspiration again. According to her, that happens in phases. One month, she’ll be less focused on her music; others, it’s all she can think about.
For the people who are considering sharing their music online, her advice is “Do it.” Like most things, it’ll probably cost a little bit of money, but it is so rewarding to be able to share it with others. SoundCloud is a way to share it for free, but doing Spotify or Apple music is only around $30 a year depending on the distributor that is used. Despite all that, Bella emphasized it was worthwhile and gratifying having done it herself.
As far as the future goes, she’s not entirely sure where she’s headed. Growing her following is the main objective, but she would also love to play shows, probably with Dean. Although it seems unlikely to her now, she told me that performing her music live is “the ultimate dream.”
Playing shows is meaningful; it would be a personal interaction with people to choose to listen and do like her music. Bella revealed that if she was able to have a large enough audience to have a show, she would absolutely do it. The vision of that experience she has is one where “Everybody knows the song, and you’re just like, ‘Wow.’ I feel like it’s [a] full circle moment.”
All this said, she is making amazing art and hasn’t even graduated high school yet. Whether you know Bella or not, you should definitely give her music a listen and be a part of her growing fan base. You can check out the latest album by koolxn, LOVESTRUCK?, on Spotify and Apple Music.
If you want to ask her any questions, you can dm her @_koolxn_ on insta.
