Many people can say that when they were younger they dreamed of being a singer. These people fantasized performing in front of thousands up on the big stage or even having the opportunity to share their music with their loved ones. No matter the case, putting one’s work out there for others is not an easy task. But, there is one student at Edmond Memorial High School (EMHS) who is doing just that.

Kennedy Vanover is a senior at EMHS who is heavily involved in the performing arts at school. She takes part in the fall play, the spring musical, the Musical Theater Prep (MTP) class, Act II show choir program and much more. Not only is she singing through the halls of EMHS, but she has also put her voice out there for the world.

On Sept. 22, Vanover released her second single titled “Favorite Heartbreaker.” She writes from the heart and includes authentic experiences in her work. She values singing about the truth and not something made up. 

“I have been writing songs for two years now. I just started to get into producing and putting it out there,” Vanover said. “What I do is I take certain events that have happened in my life and I write them into my pieces. I think it is better to write about what you know than what you think you know, but every writer is different.”

Even though the singer’s last name is Vanover, she decided to use her middle name when talking about her music. She wanted her fans to remember her off the top of their head without being confused with the longer name. 

“My last name is a mouthful. Kennedy Vanover is a bit of a hard thing for people to say,” Vanover said. “My family also calls me Kennedy Laine so I thought it would roll off the tongue of people who referred to me as Kennedy Laine. It’s kind of cute and easy to remember.”

Even though Vanover has only begun producing her music in the last couple of months, she has always been a songwriter. Even when she was a child she was always singing and dancing to her heart’s contempt. 

“I think she has always had a song in her since she was little. She always wrote down and expressed her thoughts in music,” her father Chance Vanover said. 

Not only is Vanover creating her own music, she is writing with passion. The musician is able to pull the listener into the song itself and share how she is feeling. This is not something that comes easy to most people. This EMHS student has been able to expand on how to do this with the classes she takes here at school.

“Kennedy has studied song interpretation and storytelling in drama and MTP. Her songs are emotionally correct,” drama teacher Patrick Towne said. “She has a wonderful ability to express universal experiences that connect and unite all kinds of people. That is a sign of a great artist.”

With this being her second song she has released, it isn’t her first time in the recording studio. The whole process was done in her producer’s backyard shed, which he has created into a recording studio. Together they spent hours playing music and rehearsing vocals to make it the best that it could be. 

“First, you get into the studio with your producer and give them a sample of the song you have been working on. Usually, if you work with a great partner like I do, you can just bounce off of what instrument you created it with and move to a different one. I created this song on piano originally and I played it for him,” Vanover said. “Once you have the entire song ready, you record the melody with the headset. That is your acoustic demo and you go from there by adding percussion to the song. In this one we also added the violin.” 

Once her days at EMHS come to an end, Vanover won’t be leaving everything she had at the school behind. She is going to take what she learned and improve on her skills in college. She will also continue growing as a singer, as well as a leader in the arts. 

“I want to go to college to study performance, whether that be musical performance or arts performance,” Vanover said. “Something to keep the artistic strengths of mine going. Also I am going to continue releasing songs; I want it to be a regular thing that I do.”

Vanover has a lot ahead of her and her fellow classmates can’t wait to see what she does next. But for now, students can listen to “Favorite Heartbreaker” on Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music. 

Contact Bridget Nye at [email protected]