Dorm Room to the Spotlight: How Izzy Pingrey Pursues a Music Career and College Degree

Izzy Pingrey often rides a Citi Bike along the West Side Highway in New York when it is dark and empty. Her wired headphones hang from her ears as her voice memos app plays demos on her phone.

Pingrey sings down the side of the road, recording different melodies until it sounds just right.

“I probably look crazy, but that is where a lot of my best work gets done,” Pingrey said. “I tend to get a lot of inspiration when I'm biking, and it’s when I feel very free.”

Photo Courtesy of Izzy Pingrey’s Website

As a Boston University sophomore studying Journalism and Advertising, and a blossoming indie pop artist, she is living a double life as a singer-songwriter and college student. With over 3,000 monthly listeners on Spotify across more than 80 countries, the New York City native is set to perform in Boston on Mar. 28 at Berklee’s Red Room at Cafe 939.

Since age four, Pingrey has been introduced to music, visiting recording studios with her father, Arthur Pingrey, a composer and producer, and participating in commercials and auditions. For several years, Pingrey’s father offered to make music with her, but she declined.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it prevented 13-year-old Pingrey from playing an Olivia Rodrigo song from “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” at her school’s talent show. Pingrey saw Rodrigo writing songs during the pandemic and was quickly inspired.

While quarantined at home, Pingrey begged her father to make music with her and began using music as an emotional and creative outlet.

At 16 years old, Pingrey and her father recorded and released her first song titled “sick of it.”

“She's always had a vision, and she's been very strong with songwriting,” Pingrey’s father said.

Pingrey’s discography spans a variety of genres and moods, encapsulating her versatility and adaptability as an artist. She blends intimate lyrics and relatability to create her own authentic indie pop sound.

Pingrey initially wrote a song titled “roots” about reconnecting with someone she had a falling out with, but as she started to write the lyrics, it felt more like she was reconnecting with a younger version of herself.

“So I shifted the song and its lyricism,” Pingrey said. “I think that's something that happens a lot. I'll be mid-writing, but then I'll get more inspired to write about something else as I'm writing, so the process itself makes me feel a lot more creative.”

Pingrey also writes topline first, a process that focuses on melodies and harmonies over a preexisting track or structure.

“I'll often choose where syllables go based on the melody I've created without words,” Pingrey said. “So it kind of makes it a fun challenge.”

Pingrey said that she feels most like herself when she is on stage performing.

Val Lepecki, a junior at New York University and one of Pingrey’s close friends, said that when she saw Pingrey perform on stage for the first time at The Slipper Room on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, she remembered how comfortable Pingrey looked.

“Every time she's on stage, to this day, it feels like her most authentic self, like when it's just her and me, one-on-one in our PJs, talking at a sleepover.”

Sareena Haq, a sophomore at Boston University and Pingrey’s roommate, said that Pingrey’s preparations for a live performance are “so interesting to watch.”

“It’s a lot of warming up her voice and going to the studio to practice,” Haq said. “She has a mic stand that she bought that she keeps in our room so she knows how to move around it.”

Pingrey said it's somewhat easy to balance college and music because “it feels a lot more cohesive than if I was studying something unrelated, because a lot of people feel that it is unrelated.”

“Through pursuing degrees in journalism and advertising, it feels like that and the music are all working toward the same goal,” Pingrey said.

Photo Courtesy of Izzy Pingrey’s Spotify

Lepecki said that although Pingrey has moments when she gets overwhelmed, she “always knows how to problem-solve and work through that kind of stuff.”

“Not only is she doing school and making music, writing songs, promoting them, doing music videos, and thinking of EPs and albums, but she's also involved in clubs and extracurriculars,” Lepecki said. “It's just so inspiring, honestly, and I think she does a great job at it.”

Pingrey said she doesn’t want to be a set persona or brand because then “it doesn't feel authentic, and the music itself feels so authentic.”

“I'm trying to authentically be almost 20 years old and a girl as much as possible,” Pingrey said. “The main thing that I try to do is write about being who I am at the age I am.”

Pingrey has not set a date but is expected to release her sophomore EP sometime this year.

In the future, Pingrey said her goal is “to be a songwriter, but not necessarily a face.”

“She is so open to human connection, and I think that that's something so valuable about her—it goes into her music, but it's just who she is,” Lepecki said. “She's just a very welcoming, inviting, genuine person.”