Bellamy Ackrell is thirteen, so the machinery surrounding a debut EP has to coexist with homework, high-school decisions, soccer practice and a sensible bedtime. The sensible bedtime frequently loses. When a lyric arrives after midnight, she gets up and writes it down.

Her forthcoming EP, Sirens, brings Greek mythology into the private geography of adolescence: temptation, risk, self-image and the thrill of choosing a direction before anyone can guarantee the landing. Ackrell approaches these stories with a pianist’s ear and a reader’s appetite for troublesome characters. Following her bilingual debut single Snowflakes, she is already shaping a second EP and holding onto what she calls her “stadium dreams.” Ahead of Sirens, we spoke with Ackrell about discarded lyrics, dangerous voices, digital life and the childhood she intends to protect.

Hi Bellamy, it’s great to speak with you; with three songs on Sirens and another EP already taking shape, how do you decide where each song belongs?

Writing songs is like writing a story or a movie where there are different acts and emotional arcs and new things to be discovered. For me, deciding where each song goes is both about the sound and emotional resolution each one has. On Sirens, I placed the songs together in such a way that there is a continuous melody throughout the EP. And each song has one common chord with a descending melody throughout each of the songs that eventually goes down one full octave. There are also interesting patterns in the second EP that I’m currently writing. This is so everything can be coherent. I want the listener to be able to go through a world in which sounds are similar but not simplistic and each song has a different level of richness but all fit together.

Do you remember any of the original lines you deleted from Sirens?

The lyrics I deleted were: Oh the sound of silence / hear it calling / lighting up my brain / like a warning. These lyrics embodied how the Sirens would catch their prey. First there would be silence and then the Sirens — who actually had wings instead of tails as most folklore would lead you to believe — would start to sing their song, which was filled with temptation and flattery. The song would cause the sailors to jump into the water and drown. I thought that silence, which is when you can hear nothing, is tied intrinsically to our sense that something is wrong, because there’s always sound in life surrounding us. I thought that “the sound of silence / hear it calling” was an interesting way to really personify silence. And “lighting up my brain” is with colors and sounds as the warning bells start to ring. “Lighting up my brain like a warning” is the reaction to the first two lines of action. While I ultimately did not use these lyrics, they really inspired the whole project.

When an idea arrives at midnight before school, what makes it worth getting out of bed for?

Writing songs is something hard to master. For years I would lie in bed, tired, when lyrics would circle in my head. When I was younger, I would choose to sleep, thinking that I would write them down in the morning. I never retained those lyrics, those ideas, and I wondered what I missed. As I grew, so did my creative ambition. I was no longer satisfied with the fragments of music I would retain. This culminated in me making the decision to get up, even if I was tired or sick, and write. If an idea circles in my head a few times or makes its presence known, or if I have an epiphany that if I don’t get up I may lose that fragment of music, I get out of bed. I have transitioned into always getting up no matter what, because my creative spirit is more important than a few minutes of sleep.

At nine or ten, who in The Odyssey made adults seem least trustworthy?

To me, the Sirens were the least trustworthy in The Odyssey. This may be an unusual choice, as there are many more main characters and betrayals. For a lot of the characters, we understood their motives and who they were. For certain characters, Homer would make them seem outwardly evil and we always knew their endgame. With the Sirens, they were these beautiful, tempting creatures, purely meant to lure people with their allure into the water. And this really stuck with me, because people can put on multiple faces and don multiple masks, but we usually understand their motivations. With the Sirens, they are these creatures purely motivated by hunting and flesh and bone. And because of that, they seem the most untrustworthy because they are going to say whatever they please and their mouths will make it into song and music, obscuring their true motives.

Was Icarus brave, arrogant, badly prepared or simply unlucky?

Every person contains multitudes. Icarus had to embody many characteristics and have flaws in his logic to end up with his fate. He had to be a mix of things – brave, arrogant, heedless, stubborn and poorly prepared. I believe that Icarus simply did not comprehend the consequences of his risks, or more so disregarded the risks entirely. I found the myth of Icarus to be intriguing because the story was told in such a manner to dissuade people from taking needless risks — when in fact there are multiple perspectives from which the story can be told. On Wings, the second song of Sirens, I explore the possibility that you can know what those risks are and disregard them anyway. For me, failures are just different paths when you get to fly.

What do people your age understand about social media that adults keep missing?

Social media is not solely a bad thing. The world is not binary and there are shades of grey. Although social media is causing a lot of problems today with people’s self-image and insecurities, it is allowing a generation to share their identity with the world and communicate across countries and create a sense of unity. Except for my music, I’m not on social media and I don’t even have my own phone. I do, however, play Fortnite on occasion with my friends and cousins. While I enjoy the game, I really play because it allows me to talk to my friends and relatives.

Has an adult collaborator ever suggested making one of your lyrics safer?

I have grown up in a very artistic home. My mother is an abstract artist, and she taught me from an early age about different types of art and how to create it. Art has never been a foreign thing to me. By going to shows throughout California and abroad and by creating my own art alongside her, I’ve come to understand different means of expression. Personally, I don’t consider any of my lyrics to be unsafe. Even if I did have “unsafe” lyrics, I believe that artistic expression is pivotal for our world and that as long as music has meaning to it, the music deserves to be heard.

After writing Snowflakes in English and Italian, which language began shaping the melody first?

I always write my songs and melodies in English, because it’s my first language and how I think. Italian was something I added afterwards because I thought it would be cool and unique. English is such a large language and, as my first language, makes rhyming easier. I am fluent in Italian as I’ve attended an Italian-immersion school in San Francisco since I was two and spent last semester going to school in Milan. While my current EP does not contain any Italian, I may incorporate Italian into my songs in the future.

Has playing defence on a boys’ soccer team taught you something songwriting has yet to teach?

Playing soccer on a boys’ team, especially defense where your main job is to make sure that no one passes you, has taught me that even if you’re not as strong or as fast, or are less experienced, you can still stop someone faster and stronger by positioning yourself strategically. It’s all about how hard you work and how you can use what you have to your advantage. It has taught me that even if I don’t have a certain skill or if someone is better than me at something, I can overcome anything with pure grit and determination.

“Stadium dreams” is a serious ambition at thirteen, so what part of being thirteen deserves protection as your career grows?

I’m aware that “stadium dreams” is an incredible claim of a dream for a thirteen-year-old to make. And I think the part of me being thirteen that needs protection is the whimsicalness of childhood. I think that I should spend my childhood having fun and taking things slowly. At the same time, I think that because I have these huge dreams and the drive for them, I need to work hard, and I want to always put a lot of effort into everything I do. I think it’s imperative for me to chase my dreams, because they are the only things that you really have. I’m aware that I am young. But I think being young does not mean that I shouldn’t work hard or use my time for things that I love and find joy in.