Exclusive Interview: Ian Nelson Chats New Single “Elouise”, Performing Live, and Teen Wolf Movie

Ian Nelson has made a name for himself with the dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects like Teen Wolf, The Deleted, There’s… Johnny!, and Paper Spiders. While he’s gained worldwide recognition for the work he’s done on screen, last year Ian showed off a different side to his artistry as a singer-songwriter.

Pop Culturalist caught up with Ian to chat about his latest single “Elouise”.

PC: Can you tell us about “Elouise” and the inspiration behind the song?
Ian: It’s kind of crazy, but it all came from a dream that I had. I had a lucid dream with a love from my past. She came to me in the dream. She and I had this very coherent conversation. I was very conscious of it the whole time. I knew it was a dream, but everything felt so real. She was trying to convince me it was totally real. She essentially said, “In the morning, when you wake up, I will be laying next to you and we’ll be back together.” When I woke up the next morning, it was a dream. Shocking.

I started writing what would become “Elouise”. Then maybe two or three months later, after I had finished writing a version of the song, a friend hooked me up with this really rad artist named Sad Alex. She’s an amazing songwriter, so we got on the phone.

Even the way that she and I met was so serendipitous. One of my buddies knew her music producer. Her music producer has the same manager that Alex has. That was how Alex and I started working together.

But I was like, “Yo, I got this song. It’s called ‘Elouise’. I think it’d be a really good duet.” Alex was like, “Yeah, send it to me.” I sent it to her and she wrote back, “I like this a lot. I need some time with it, but I don’t think it’s a duet.” A week later—it was around midnight—I got a text from Alex. There was an MP3 file that said, “‘Elouise’ demo.” I’ll never forget sitting on my couch, listening to the demo, and freaking out. I was like, “She found the magic.” She added such a lovely dimension to the song. With the collaboration of my music producer, a really awesome guy named Jacob McCaslin, we all built this song.

The song is really a celebration of the people who we get to share something special with, if only for a moment. We don’t have to see the absence of people as a negative all the time. “Elouise” is about missing someone that you perhaps still love, but it’s also a celebration of the power of dreams.

PC: You’ve paired each of the singles that you’ve released thus far with its own music video. As you’re writing these songs, are you thinking about the visual component, or where does that fit into the process?
Ian: That’s a really good question. The answer is no. “Unfinished Conversations”, which was my second single, was a more tonal or atmospheric song where “21st Century Love” is a pretty commercial pop song. “Elouise” sounds like an electric dream. But “Unfinished Conversations” had the atmosphere built into it. It’s a dark, brooding song. I wanted it to sound late at night. So the visuals were sort of built in but not for the other songs.

I knew that “Elouise” needed to sound like a dream, but I didn’t know what that looked like until I started discussing the visuals with the director Collin Stark. He and I started talking about this idea and the video became about the elements: water, earth, air, and fire. It became a celebration of everything that “Elouise” is. She’s this divine female.

Here’s the thing about visuals. You write a song about a girl leaving, which is what “Elouise” is. It’s about a girl leaving and seemingly not caring about anything that you shared or how you felt. On the surface, if you look at the lyrics, that’s what it’s about. We could have easily made a music video that featured a girl, kissing, and good times, and then she leaves. But I think that music videos that create a different lens through which to look at the song make for a more satisfying experience than doing something that’s quite literal.

PC: Late last year, you started to release your own original music and it’s allowed you to connect with fans on a deeper level. What has that response meant to you?
Ian: That was really special. You know, it’s not unusual for actors to start making music. It’s a fairly normalized thing. The funniest part is that it’s not like my manager or PR person came to me and was like, “All right, now it’s time for the music phase.” It’s crazy because I’ve only been making music for a short while. I used to be kind of ashamed of this. I was like, “Oh man, I haven’t been doing it that long.” But now I’m starting to realize that it’s actually a badge of honor. I’ve really only been doing this for about two years now.

Over the past year and a half, the quarantine almost expedited my progress because it took every distraction out of my perspective. I had no distractions. I pretty much did nothing over the pandemic. I acted in a few things here and there, but mostly I was in my apartment by myself practicing my guitar and writing songs. I came out of the pandemic with like thirty-five songs. I don’t even know how many hours I practiced my guitar over the past year, but it was the only thing I was doing.

Music has been a very organic, very natural extension for me. I didn’t want to put out “21st Century Love”. I never set out to write a song and make a music video. Collin was the one who was like, “You need a music video.” I was like, “Okay.” I just kept saying yes to everything.

I think fans have really appreciated the fact that my music has felt very natural. I’m not writing songs to try to get anyone’s attention. I’m not writing songs that are pandering to anyone. If anything, that was extremely clear with “Unfinished Conversations”. It’s a dense song. It’s a heavy song. People appreciate the authenticity, and I feel like my music is a very natural extension of me. I don’t feel like any of my music is out of left field.

There are so many actors and social media people who release music, and frankly, a lot of it is just not very good. That’s not an opinion. It’s really not an opinion. Objectively, it’s not good. Sometimes it upsets me because I’m like, “How could no one else see that that wasn’t good?” One of the biggest issues with the music industry these days is I feel like music is becoming a commodity. It’s more a commercial than an expression.

I’m not opposed to writing really catchy love songs. I think that’s awesome. Some of my favorite songs are just really beautiful love songs and super catchy. But I think that something I try to do with my music is infuse it with pop elements so that in the words of John Mayer “it’s listenable”, so that people can really listen to it, appreciate it, and enjoy it. But I want to make sure that there’s integrity in everything that I do, whether it’s acting or music.

PC: Was that part of the reason why you decided to release music independently? What challenges and freedom have that allowed you as an artist?
Ian: Being independent is interesting because I do everything, you know? I’m not ashamed to say that. I don’t have press people helping me with any of this stuff.

I feel like music has given me this whole autonomy that acting never challenges you to have. When you’re successful at a young age, you’re given a manager, an agent, a PR person. You have lawyers. But through music, I’ve learned how to sit down and look at contracts. This stuff isn’t really sexy, but this is the stuff that allows me to do what I do.

When you’re independent, you’re doing everything. I don’t even have a music manager. All of these live shows I’ve been doing I got myself. People are shocked when I tell them that. People are like, “What do you mean you just emailed the Viper Room and got a headlining spot?” I was like, “If you work hard, if you’re humble, if you make it easy for people to say yes and you make good music, you’ve got to do the work that no one wants to do, which is to sit down and write emails.”

I love being independent. It’s exhausting. It’s truly exhausting, but there’s also great satisfaction. The music video for “Elouise” was made by two people. If you saw the scope of this music video, it’s unprecedented. If that was made by a production company or a label was pushing it, this would have had a six-figure budget.

I’ve been reading this amazing book called Our Band Could Be Your Life, which is about the punk-rock movement in the ’80s, leading up to when Nirvana broke up. It’s pretty much about the bands that made it possible for Nirvana to be popular and accepted. Back then, being independent was the only way to get your music out. It’s almost like a badge of honor to be independent, to make good music, and to put out solid music videos. I’m not opposed to signing with a label. I just think it’d have to be the right situation.

PC: It was just recently announced that a Teen Wolf movie is heading to Paramount+. When you look back at your experience with the series, what do you remember most?
Ian: Teen Wolf was the first time that I felt like I had leveled up as an actor. Before that, I’d played some small parts in some cool films. But Teen Wolf was the first time I got to be the guy. That was a special feeling.

It’s funny. I just saw Tyler Posey at the rehearsal studio where my band rehearses because he was rehearsing with his band. It was so funny. His EP is rad. It’s called Drugs and it’s so good. Tyler is one of the nicest guys ever. It was so funny. I was walking up the stairs in the rehearsal space and I saw him going down. But everyone was wearing masks. I just looked down and I saw his tattoos. I was like, “Hey, Tyler!”

What I love about Tyler—and this applies to everyone on Teen Wolf—is that he was so kind. Everyone was so nice. It was a great environment. That’s what I think about when I think about Teen Wolf: really great people.

The fans are remarkable. They’re all so nice. I haven’t met one mean Teen Wolf fan. I can honestly say that. That’s a pretty big thing to be able to say because there are no Teen Wolf haters out there or at least that I know of. Don’t come out of the woodwork and be like, “Here we are.” [laughs] But that’s what I remember most.

To keep up with Ian, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Pick up or stream “Elouise” today.