Like many others, Huailing Chen, GS ’22, spent much of quarantine in her hometown, surrounded by the familiar people and places that she still holds dear in Plano, Texas. Reconnecting with those precious parts of her childhood, especially her friends, led to an outpouring of emotions in the medium that she loves most—music.

Chen wrote the entirety of her first EP, “Where You’ve Never Lived,” at home. Complete with five songs, the EP centers around her nostalgic experience of returning to the place where she grew up. The songs dive into the joy of reuniting with childhood friends and the feeling of driving down familiar roads after spending many years away. However, Chen did not originally set out to write an EP; it was the sense of love and familiarity felt in her hometown that led her to express her emotions through song.

“I think for this one … a lot of the songs just came out,” Chen said. “I think typically, with my songs, it’ll be things that I’m thinking about for a while and maybe I’ll journal about it, or I’ll try to do some writing about it. And it won’t be a fully fleshed-out song. And then, usually at some moment, I’ll just start writing songs. And then usually it just comes out right away.”

Chen has always considered herself to be a musical person: she loves to dance and connect with music on a visceral level. She has been developing this love for music ever since her parents signed her up for piano lessons. From there, Chen picked up the flute at the age of nine and eventually began playing guitar at her local church before she started writing her own music around the age of 13 or 14. What started off as a hobby soon became one of Chen’s biggest passions, leading her to take songwriting to a more serious level when she created a band with her high school friends.

“It was just with a few of my friends … and we wrote songs. And I think that was a good place to start because it’s something we did together, so it wasn’t high pressure” Chen said.

During quarantine, Chen originally began writing acoustic songs for the enjoyment of her friends. However, after receiving overwhelmingly positive responses, she did not stop there. These acoustic songs were soon fully produced, and eventually, they became what is now her very first EP—a collection of songs that explores friendship transcending time and space.

While many of Chen’s songs were inspired by her time at home, there were also many artists, including the band Big Red Machine, that influenced both the sound and feel of the songs on her EP.

“[Big Red Machine] also collaborates with a lot of artists that they feature, and that was kind of a spirit I wanted to bring in,” Chen said. “Just doing new things with people, like other artists, that have inspired me.”

Yet, Chen turns immediately to the word “friendship” when thinking about the inspiration for “Where You’ve Never Lived.” Having lived in Texas, Taiwan, and Ireland—where she spent the first two years of college—she forged bonds with people in each of these locations. The friendships survived each move.

“The whole EP, it’s kind of about place,” Chen said. “I wrote it in my hometown, and I only worked on it when I was back.  … I feel like I’ve just been in a lot of places, and I’ve made friends in those places, and had to leave. But I still keep those connections.”

Chen has accumulated friends from across the globe throughout her life whose impacts have ultimately led her to write songs such as “Meet Me,” which highlights the special connection she has with the friends she grew up with.

While Chen’s music often portrays the joys of friendship, the loss that comes with departing from loved ones is not unknown to her. Fortunately, she is a strong believer in its power to transcend both time and space.

“I feel like you don’t need to be in a place to feel another person’s presence,” Chen said.

Much of the ability to connect with others was lost at the height of quarantine, but as the world opened up, Chen jumped at the opportunity to create music with others and rekindle those relationships that inspired many of the songs featured in her newest EP. However, not all of her songs are about her own connection with others.

Chen’s song titled “God’s Apartment” was particularly inspired by the isolation she felt during quarantine. She turned to songwriting to help her process that emotion and question the universality of the feeling.

“What if God feels like this living by [himself]?” Chen responded when explaining what inspired the song. However, she was quick to note that, besides the thought-provoking question that inspired it, the song is also about having fun with those you care about.

In her song titled “Clouds,” Chen writes about the experience of losing touch with friends as time progresses. It is experiences like this that have influenced Chen’s love of music, for it brings people together and allows many to connect through memories of people who are both near and far in a way that makes them feel physically and emotionally closer.

A lyric in “Clouds” reads, “Clouds keep on changing and changing, wheels keep on turning. I’ll go on saying the same thing, I’ll keep on loving you.” These words highlight why Chen feels that the song is about change and the love that will always keep friends connected.

While Chen values her ability to share her music on multiple platforms and reach a wide audience, her songs have been, and will always be, about conveying love for her friends through music. Now that she has fine-tuned her musical abilities by growing her instrumental skillset, she can fully bring her musical ideas to life.

“I feel like I’ve always known there was something special that I connected with [in] music, but I guess what’s changed is the tools I have to express it and to understand it. I think I’ve really built practical techniques” Chen said. “I think before when I would try making music, I just wouldn’t have the skills I needed to do what I want. And now, I feel like I’m just trying to get my skills to match up with what I want in my head.”