From Attorney to EDM Artist: Ellie Bloom’s New Beat

Ellie Bloom Attorney During The Day EDM Artist at Night. 

[Speaker 3]

Think of a woman who spent years in courtrooms, sharp suits, long days, steady career. She was 42, still a practicing attorney, when she decided, why not chase the music she loved? That's Ellie Bloom.

Now she's making dark, driving electropop, catchy beats that pull you in. She's not quitting law, just adding a whole new chapter. Her story?

It's proof you can start fresh, no matter your age. And this is an exclusive interview right here with The Trout.

[Speaker 2]

You had a career as an attorney, now did you, let's start from the very beginning, because I wonder where you got your English, because I know a lot of people in Europe speak English, not as much in America, you come over here, they go, well, you speak in French, or Texas, come on. Where did you grow up originally?

[Speaker 1]

So originally, I was born in Belgium. The first year of my life, I lived in Germany. So obviously, I didn't have any German at that point yet.

Then I went back to Belgium. And when I was 14, I moved to Canada, to Montreal. And where did I get my English was, I grew up in a very international family.

So we lived in the Dutch part of Belgium. And we were raised in French, because we are from a French speaking family, which is quite atypical. For the Flemish part, there's like 7% of Flemish people in Belgium, that are French speaking.

Like I said before, it's a little bit like Quebec and Canada, let's say you can compare it to that. And so I was raised in French, and then I had to go to school and that was then Dutch. But at the same time, because we were a very international family, my dad and my mom, they spoke English with me as well.

So from a very young age, English was very much part of the, you know, part of the daily routine. Because obviously, in the 80s, we didn't have all social media and everything. Because my kids now, they speak three languages as well, but their English is also amazing.

But it's obviously because of, yeah, because of social media. But at that time, it wasn't, it wasn't the case.

[Speaker 2]

I think it's interesting. Yeah, that most people in Europe, they do have a lot of speak English. Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, yeah. And then when I was 14, we moved to Canada. And we lived in on this little island called Il Bazar.

It's like a weird island, basically. And, and there I went to, to a school and my parents decided that I should go in the Dutch in the English and French. You know, how do you say it's schooling system so that my English and French would be also from oral and written.

Yeah, would be good. So that's really how the English came, yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Well, what I do know is that you learn languages much easier when you're young. Music is interesting from the standpoint that even though you sing in French, people don't need to understand the music except the music.

[Speaker 1]

That's like the most, like the best compliment I find. When people tell me, I don't understand a word, but I love it. I'm like, wow, that means that, you know, the music is, you know, the arrangements are done, the feeling and the emotions go through without even understanding what I'm saying.

So I really like when people say that.

[Speaker 2]

So when did, when was the decision? I mean, you started, did you start playing a piano or anything? Or you sang or when you were young?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, so to be honest, like a long story, because I, of course, my path was quite atypical because my project, my Elie Blum project started only three years ago. And obviously, for the music business, I'm old. I mean, I am.

[Speaker 2]

You're ancient, quit now.

[Speaker 1]

Yes. But I was like, you know, it's a childhood dream. When I was about, I think, eight or ten, I was really dreaming of being on a podium.

I was singing all the time. I got, when I was about, I think, six, I got my first Sony. It's in my studio downstairs.

I should have brought it up. And I started recording my voice on my dad's cassette tapes. He used to make his own mixtapes for in the car.

And then he would be angry with me because, you know, I was putting my voice on all his mixtapes. I was singing like Celine Dion and everything.

[Speaker 2]

And so you would listen back and sing and then record over whoever you were listening to. Oh, wow.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I pissed him off anyway. So that's how it really started.

And, you know, I thought, you know, I have something, but nobody was confirming that in my family. They were like, yeah, yeah, you know, you stop it. We have like a family with lawyers and notary publics.

And, you know, singing was just not.

[Speaker 2]

No, that's, you're in a different world.

[Speaker 1]

Yes.

[Speaker 2]

You're in a creative world. If you're not, they don't understand that.

[Speaker 1]

No, they didn't. They did a real job.

[Speaker 2]

Get a real job.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, and on the other hand, I'm thankful that I went through that path because today I am able to be an artist and make this project live and give it a voice and at the same time have a stable income and have still, you know, a business that is working because everything that's working on the one side is giving me opportunities to, you know, develop my projects. So, you know, I bloomed late and that's where Ellie Bloom also comes from. The name Bloom is really from blooming.

And then my kids, you know, I was asking my kids, you know, can we can we find a name because I want it to sound international. I want it to be able, you know, and then they said, yeah, Ellie. And I was like, oh, yeah, Ellie is good.

Ellie is good in French, in English, in Dutch. And it's it sticks, you know, so. So, yeah, that's why it really started off when I was about 10 years old and I used to watch I remember I used to watch, you know, on DVD.

And no, not on DVD, on Laserdiscs. Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 2]

They didn't last very long, but I do remember.

[Speaker 1]

They didn't last, but we had like a collection of them. And my dad used to buy all the live concerts like Michael Jackson. I don't know if you know the French artist, Mylène Fermeur.

[Speaker 2]

No, but that's.

[Speaker 1]

Oh, she's she's amazing. And and so I used to watch this and I used to be so inspired. And so that's where, you know, my childhood dream came from.

And growing up, I think amongst friends I used to sing and but nobody really knew. And then life happened. A lot of things happened, difficult things, easier things.

And but I grew to be a mom and a grown woman. And then I got close to my 40s and I was like, am I really going to be a lawyer for the rest of my life?

[Speaker 2]

And that was not the right phrase. Do I want to be a lawyer?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

[Speaker 2]

That's true. That's the way it was.

[Speaker 1]

Do I want to be a lawyer? Well, at the time, I think I was 37 when I started to, you know, put everything into perspective. And I was honestly, I was done with it.

[Speaker 2]

Get tired of it.

[Speaker 1]

My I was really tired and and like, how do I say it? I was empty. I couldn't give anymore.

[Speaker 2]

It didn't it didn't give you any fulfillment. It's basically.

[Speaker 1]

Anymore. It was basically.

[Speaker 2]

Let me ask you what kind of practice you did.

[Speaker 1]

Well, I, I was doing immigration, Social Security and tax law for expats.

[Speaker 2]

OK, and where were you practicing?

[Speaker 1]

It was my own practice, Belgium.

[Speaker 2]

OK.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, Belgium. And it's still it's still active. I mean, I'm still it's still my it's still my job.

And I'm still, you know, I'm still running the business. But now the difference is now that I have a very good team and I'm trying to delegate as much work as possible so I can get my free time to put in the musical project. But it's amazing because in the beginning, I was very afraid to openly come out with it because I had clients all over the world, you know, Chinese, Japanese.

And and I was very afraid that they would think I wouldn't take their file seriously anymore. So I it took me a long time before I put it on LinkedIn, you know, and yeah. And then I was very surprised because when I when I decided to really come out with the project, like I'm a lawyer, but I'm also an artist and there's a side of me that just, you know, needs to color outside of the box.

People were so responsive and they were so surprised in a positive way. And still today, whenever I meet new clients for the for the legal business, I talk about my musical projects and I end up in conversations that are so interesting because music just connects everybody.

[Speaker 2]

Yes, it does.

[Speaker 1]

It is amazing. So I've been getting on new clients for the legal business through Ellie Bloom and I've been getting on professionals for Ellie Bloom through my business. So it's it's really it's it's like yin and yang.

And it's it's really very interesting.

[Speaker 2]

Here's what you had going, though. First off, you have you're not 20 or 18 going into. So I do a lot of and I've interviewed hundreds of people.

So the younger people and I've tried to help young people through the maze of the music business because I have friends in it and their parents are like, I don't know what to do. I have clueless, you know, the kids like I got to go play in front of 15000 people, mom, and they're talented and all that good stuff. But what you got going on is you have common sense and business sense because, you know, now the music business is not like it was when you watch Laserdisc.

Now, it's not like that at all. A lot of people are independent artists are doing their own thing, which requires you to work and run a business. And a lot of times you're probably well aware of creative people don't really have that part of their brain.

So you've got that. But the other thing that you had, because it's great. Here's the I'm thinking about this when you're talking and you go to your client and go, hi, nice to see you again, Mr. Whoever, just want to let you know I'm an artist now. Oh, really? Yeah. When you get a chance, listen to my stuff.

Now, there's two paths that happen. That one is they listen and go. OK, she's not very good.

I don't know why she's even doing this or, oh, wait a minute. She's really good at what she does. That is the avenue that you took because you're talented at it.

And then secondly happened. The third thing that happens is when they see you, they can go, you know, that's my attorney up there singing. That's cool.

I mean, how cool is that? The thing I know about music is and especially in what you do, you've got to have people you can be a great writer, but you're going to have a lot of people back there doing you got to try. And this is the other thing is hard is translating what's up here to whoever's sitting there at the keyboard doing whatever they're doing, the drummer.

So you took the risk. What was the first thing you did? Did you call up somebody and say, I got these songs I'd like to record?

How did that process go with you?

[Speaker 1]

It was very interesting because it was actually I think when Covid hit, I was I had a lot of time thinking, you know, like like a lot of us. And I was doing conference calls with my clients and obviously nobody could travel. So I was just I think we were all just stuck, you know, trying to get to the next best thing.

And and I said, OK, now I have to do something with my voice. And before I wanted to go through the part where I wanted to start writing and everything, what I did was I was like, I have to make sure that my voice is good. So I contacted a vocal coach in not far away from from where I lived.

And I met her. And it was amazing from from from day one. You know, I remember I got in there and I said, you know, I want to sing and I think I can sing.

But and I said, I want to sing Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O'Connor. It's like my favorite song. And I was like, yeah, yeah.

She was like, go ahead. It's quite hard.

[Speaker 2]

What song did you sing from Sinead? What was the one you liked?

[Speaker 1]

Nothing Compares to You.

[Speaker 2]

The Prince song, the Prince song.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, the Prince song. Yeah. And and so I started singing and it was it was it was not bad, but it was really awful from where I where I stand now, you know, and she said, you know, it's a really tough song to sing.

And she said, well, we're going to work on it, but I think you're going to need like two years before you can really, really sing it. And I was like, OK, OK, fine. Anyway, so we started working the basics and everything.

So I learned a lot from her. And and then when we were about, I think, a year, year and a half into the vocal lessons, we started connecting differently. And I said, I want to write.

I want to I want to I want to write stuff. You know, I needed to get things out of my system.

[Speaker 2]

Sure.

[Speaker 1]

And I started putting some some chords together. And then I remember the first time I tried, I was in in the wrong and wrong tone. You know, it's like first of all.

Yeah. I'm like, first of all, when you when you do a song, you got to do a song in one key. You know, you can't you can't do a song in three keys.

I was like, unless you modulate.

[Speaker 2]

No, no, no. I can't do it.

[Speaker 1]

I know. But I didn't know that at the time because I was of course, I love music. I had done I had played piano when I was young.

I had done. How do you say the solfege in French? The notes.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. OK.

How do you say that in English? What?

[Speaker 2]

What does the music score?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

The music theory, let's say.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

And then I used to play the flute. So I did do some things when I was young.

[Speaker 2]

So you had some musical background and understand the basics. Yeah. Because you probably could read.

Obviously, you could read music a little bit.

[Speaker 1]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Basics. But still, yeah, I could.

[Speaker 2]

But you under. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. I had I had some some basics. And then and then I started writing.

And then and then she helped me with the studio, the vocal coach studio. It's called Mind Voice. She helped me to put together some songs.

And then I wrote and she was helping me with piano arrangements. And then I said to her, I said, OK, now we've got to get a producer in. And I had one producer in my mind.

I had a list of, I think, 12 producers. And the first one was actually Yannick, the one I work with now since the beginning. And she said, no, no, no.

We're going to work with young guys. We need to work with guys, you know, come out of the conservatory. I don't know.

[Speaker 2]

Is it in English? Yeah, that's right. That's good.

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

And and they were really good. But I was like, no, I want to work with this one. She's like, no, we're going to this first EP.

We're going to try it with these people. So I was quite happy with what they did. But it was a first, you know, there's always a first.

And you have to come up with something. And and then for the second EP, I worked I worked with Yannick, only with Yannick. So we we contacted each other.

And he's I don't know if you know Axel Red. She's a French. She's a Belgian, a Belgian artist, also Flemish like me.

She's quite known in Belgium and France especially. And he used to work with her also. So I was like, OK, OK, this this this guy is good, you know.

And although he doesn't have an amazing social social media presence, let's say, this guy, you Google him and you go see. And he's worked on the most the biggest works. So I knew I had a very quiet.

Yeah, he keeps it very quiet. He's very, very private person. But he this guy is like an encyclopedia of sounds and of experience.

And so I contact him and he was he was happy to meet me. And then we started talking and talking and talking. And we just connected.

We just connected.

[Speaker 2]

Because producers don't want to produce anybody they don't like.

[Speaker 1]

No, no.

[Speaker 2]

I mean, they might they might take your money.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

But, you know, I've been asked to produce people and I say, you know, here's the deal. I got to like you first.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

I think it's interesting you're smart enough to figure that out.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

Because a lot of people don't understand what a producer does. You know, people some people think, well, they're just going to tell me what to do. If no, that's not their job.

[Speaker 1]

No, I made a sound board.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, they're they're the one. But it didn't surprise me. He said, OK, I'll meet with you.

But I looked at your CV and went, OK, she's all right. She can't be stupid or crazy. So let's go talk to her.

And then he goes, OK, because they have to get to know you because it's a collaboration.

[Speaker 3]

It's a collaboration.

[Speaker 2]

And you don't like working with them. And you don't and they don't work with you. Why are you paying them?

No, it's true.

[Speaker 1]

It's true. And this guy, he's amazing. I have so much respect for him.

And and we really connect on on on a lot of levels. And he just seems to when I when I explain my story and where it comes from, what I want to write, when I hear what I feel, he has this way of of of inventing because it's it's that, you know, he has all these analog synthesizers and he's really creating the sounds for my music from from, you know, analog machines from 1984. And that is just, you know, I have shivers just talking about it because I'm like this this machine is like one year younger than I am.

And we're making music with this, you know. And so we're really creating from nothing. And it's it's not just, you know, getting sounds from or getting ideas from obviously you get inspired by other artists and other songs.

And but I made a sound board where I really in my notes, I said, OK, this song, this second, this sound. OK, we got to do something with that. I like that sound, you know.

And and that's how we got to this Ellie Bloom sound that I that I call my sound. And I understood that it was very important also to try to create your own sound. And it wasn't easy.

It was really, really difficult because now we just finished. I just released the third EP and I'm going to do a re-edition of the first EP that's going to come out now in just before June. We're going to start releasing every month one song of the first EP that's been reproduced.

And then I'm going to go into, you know, my creative shell again and try to write for the next for the next album, which I want to have out in 2027. But he was asking me, you know, we're good. We're good in terms of sound.

Do we need to. Does there need to be an evolution of sound? I think, of course, in every project there is an evolution of sound because you get better at what you're doing.

Exactly. You get better as a person. You know, you grow every day.

And that's for me one of the most important things, especially getting older. It's important to understand, you know, who you are, where you come from, who you evolve to be. There's so many things that happen also in life that, you know, they just mark you.

[Speaker 2]

Well, if you can't write a song, your song writing capability is different at your age versus when you're 18.

[Speaker 1]

Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 2]

I mean, it's not just the maturation of the music process. It's your maturation of you and your lifestyle. So when you did this and you get this going and you work with this gentleman, the producer.

What was your idea of what you wanted to do with it? I mean, it's nice. You can put it out on Spotify and all that.

But, you know, you're trying to do a brand and get a name. And I know you've done a few live things. And I would imagine from what you said, watching all those laser discs, playing in front of a large audience or at least doing that would be something that's probably on your list.

Isn't it?

[Speaker 1]

It is. It is. I think when I started, I had a friend and she said, so what?

So you started this and like, what do you want to achieve with this? And I was like, well, first of all, I'm just I'm just happy I did it because now I did it and, you know, nobody can take it away from me anymore. But if you really ask me, what is my big, big dream?

I don't think there's any limits. I would love to perform in front of thousands of people. I think now I'm in a stage where I'm definitely still in development.

And I have a lot to learn still in terms of everything, because I think from from I mean, I know from from the last three years I've had a speed. How do you say a speed? How do I forget my word?

I have it in three languages. I don't find it in English. A speed updates like not an update.

But when you learn something, you go to a speed class.

[Speaker 2]

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 1]

A speed class on music industry. I didn't know nothing about music industry.

[Speaker 2]

Why would you? You're an attorney.

[Speaker 1]

I didn't know anything about it. The only thing I knew was was the passion I had for music and artists I love. And but I had no clue about how this music industry functions.

And so obviously, because I'm quite, you know, an entrepreneur, I I saw this from the very beginning as a brand. I never saw it because sometimes people tell me, oh, you know, it's like a hobby and it's, you know, going out of hand and it's becoming something. And I'm like, it was never a hobby for me.

It was a passion. And I wanted to do something with it for me in the first place, because for me, I wanted to feel good about it and be able to say that I did it and show my children that it's not because you're you're in a certain path of life and you've chosen for something in the past that, you know, you have to stick to it for the rest of your life, even if in some points it's making you unhappy and you got to just go for your dreams.

You know, you got to keep stability, but you got to dare to go for your dreams. So that was what I wanted to achieve. But then when she said, yes, but, you know, what do you what do you want?

And I said, oh, yeah, well, I want it all. I'm not afraid. I want it all.

Of course, I'm afraid because sometimes I'm thinking, you know, you're never afraid.

[Speaker 2]

You're not you're you're if you're not, yeah, you're not big enough. Well, I used to tell people, if you're not if you're not nervous when you walk on the stage, you need to give it up because you're just walking through playing. Let's play a song.

[Speaker 3]

Exactly.

[Speaker 2]

You don't have a little same way with you. And I think what's probably what you're getting to is people in your age bracket don't understand.

[Speaker 1]

No, and they never will, because I had a lot of friends, a lot of friends that just left my circle, let's say, because they didn't get it.

[Speaker 2]

They'll come back when you're famous. Probably they'll come back. Hey, hey, remember me?

Oh, yeah, probably.

[Speaker 1]

But honestly, Rick, I think my whole circle didn't understand. And they can't. Even my parents, they didn't get it.

I had to get out. I had to get out my first EP before they could say, oh, OK, it's not bad.

[Speaker 2]

And I was like, people that don't want you to be because they're jealous will say, what do you think you're doing? What's wrong with you? You got a regular.

You look at your professional woman. You got a family. What's wrong with you?

Well, they don't want you to be successful because the same position you were before you decided, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go out and do this. And the worst thing that can happen, the worst thing that happened is two or three years from now, you go, OK, I've done it.

It's not happening. I'm going to continue being an attorney, a lawyer. And it's a moment in time you can go, OK, look at this.

I did this because then it's then you fulfilled what's in here. Exactly. Yeah.

And you cannot do that unless you do it. And you will continue to reach for the top. Maybe you'll get what you want.

Maybe you won't. But at least you tried. Exactly.

If you don't. And I tell younger people all this time, do what you want to do. Don't listen to what people say.

If you want to be whatever, if it makes you happy, it will make you happy and you'll make through it if you don't. You'll be miserable. But how do you take the next step?

I'm sure that's what runs through your mind all the time. You've got the EP just came out, didn't it? Or you just released something.

Yeah, I think so. I saw that. So how are you going to promote it or what are you doing to promote it?

[Speaker 1]

Well, for now, I so the 30P came out. I was quite surprised because after one month I hit 105,000 streams. So I was quite happy.

Of course, streams, as you know, is not, I mean, 100,000 streams is not very representable.

[Speaker 2]

It's like $300.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But I see a lot of artists saying, you know, I don't like to post about numbers and because I'm not doing it there for that. But in my mind and in my ambition, I am doing it and I am driving it as a business.

So numbers are very important. And that's why I'm not shy to share them. Because a lot of people who start following me, like managers, people in the industry, et cetera, I know they have an eye on me.

I see it. They follow me. They don't necessarily like things or they don't see things, but they follow me.

And I'm like, you're not following me for any, you know, for any other reason than to see how I'm growing in my project. So that's why I like to share it. So the EP now, I used to work with five people who were doing the PR in France and in Belgium, because I had to have somebody who did the PR for the Flemish part because it's in Dutch.

And it's three totally different worlds. I had to have somebody in France who was doing the national radios, somebody who was doing the local and the regional radios. I had to have somebody who was doing the online streaming platforms.

So it was a whole team. That was a few months ago.

[Speaker 2]

Well, you got to work to pay for those people.

[Speaker 1]

Yes, exactly. So it started to be very, very expensive. And I, at a certain point, I decided, OK, I have to slim down the costs because the streams and the radio I'm getting is obviously good, but it's not number wise.

It's not, it's not good. You know what I mean? So I decided to start and do everything myself.

You know, contact radios, pitch myself. And I'm not getting as... Yeah, I'm just...