We are happy to welcome a new artist at BB*ISLAND, her name is Ella Ronen, a musician, storyteller, mother, and feminist. THE GIRL WITH NO SKIN is her first single off a forthcoming album and is released today.
Ella Ronen's story, like her songs, often reads like a work of magical realism. A cosmic hybrid child of a lot of drama, belonging everywhere and nowhere. A silent choir child, turned immigrant, turned activist and poet. She reportedly began singing in the womb and penned long, detailed stories before she could write, by dictating them to adults. The details of her life are woven into her songs.
Not necessarily her life details are uncovered in the first single, which she released today. «The Girl with No Skin» is an ambiguous song: gentle and restrained in melody, Ella Ronen almost tenderly tells a deeply sad, poetic and surreal story of a girl who was born without skin. Of course, this is to be understood as a metaphor, where Ronen sings, "I have no skin, who can tell where I end and where I begin". "If you were ever called "too sensitive", if you ever felt your vulnerability was something to be ashamed of, this song is dedicated to you" Ella says.
In 2020 Ronen began researching producers. The first two songs that moved her to check their credits, made by different artists in different years, led to one person: Sam Cohen (from NYC, who worked with Kevin Morby, Alexandra Savior, Sharon Van Etten, Benjamin Booker a.m.m.). Her research was done. Several months later, Cohen received an email from her. The subject line was "producing an album", and it contained a first song for that future album. Cohen tells that although Ronen forgot to attach the recording file, the lyrics were enough for him to know - he wanted to make this album.
That song was 'The Girl with no Skin'.
Stream / download it on your favorite platform here or below