Western Kentucky University freshman shares musical aspirations

With a fervent and angelic voice resemblant of a young Taylor Swift, Bowling Green freshman Molli Appling, 19, knew from a young age that her passion was music. Appling began singing in her church and school choir at age five and has since continued her involvement in music.

“Ever since I started listening to music it had a special effect on me,” Appling said. “It’s hard to remember when I first decided that music was going to be my thing, but ever since I was able to produce sound and sing, I’ve been doing it.”

Appling found a way to channel her self-reliance in music through the production process.

“What kind of inspired me to start singing and playing instruments was that I wanted to be able to produce my own music,” Appling said. “I wanted to be able to do that by myself because I would like to think of myself as a pretty independent person.

A multi-instrumentalist, Appling sets her songs to original melodic harmonies played on instruments such as the guitar, piano, and occasionally the violin.

While Appling writes her own songs, she has focused mainly on recording covers than putting together a collection of her original music.

“I do write my own songs, but I’m still working on them,” Appling said. “I’m always the toughest critic of my work and making the lyrics perfect and the builds and dynamics takes a lot of time if you want to perfect it.”

Appling said she enjoys and loves to sing all genres of music, but most prefers indie rock. Through Instagram, Appling was able to create a vibrant social media platform as well as share her musical voice talent with her growing audience.

“I’ve not recorded my own songs, but I have been in and out of the recording studio to record covers,” Appling said.

Appling described recording music with her close friend in a Nashville, Tennessee studio as a “great experience” that provided insight as to what her future career may look like.

“[Recording songs is] something I want to do when I graduate. I want to do that for a living so that’s cool to be able to experience that because I got to see where I could possibly be spending all my time in my career.”

Appling recently switched her major to music at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but spoke of the impact journalism, her previous major, has on her music.

“I’d say journalism is a big help in writing songs for sure,” Applying said. “It really helps me see the bigger picture and more important message that I can inspire with.”

Appling acknowledges that her journey to establishing a name for herself in the music industry and finding who she is as a musician is a process she’s still undergoing.

“I would say that I’m honestly still trying to find my musical style and persona,” Appling said. “It’s hard to tell what I really want to do because I haven’t been able to explore my full potential.