A young girl belts out “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars while her brother plays the piano. Ten years later, that girl released her debut song “love a little harder.” When senior Isabel Hosein’s music journey began, she never imagined that she would reach listeners from 46 countries.
Hosein has always been enveloped in music. Her father was a DJ in college and her brother, Ty Hosein, a college senior, has released music since high school, including the single “Take!”.
“My brother has been my role model ever since he introduced me to music,” Hosein said. “I sit on the chair next to his piano, and we sing and play for hours.”
Over the last four years, Hosein went through many drafts before finalizing “love a little harder.” She was inspired by her mother, who passed away from cancer when she was five years old. Her lyrics embody moments of her mother: seeing her in the hospital, scattering her ashes. The repetition of the lyric “half of me” references her drive to live up to her mother’s strength and kindness.
“The lyrics didn’t feel meaningful until I drew from my own story,” Hosein said. “This song is about how no matter the hardships I face and how much love I have lost, I will continue to love just a little harder each day.”
Beginning with a basic melody in January, Hosein experimented with adding lyrics and instruments to find a harmonic balance. Finally, she sent the recordings to her brother, who lined them up.
“I wanted to put the song out before my early college applications, so I didn’t have time to record everything,” Hosein said. “We also had issues with the file being corrupted, but I ended up finding a feature that restored the previous draft.”
While creating “love a little harder,” Hosein’s nerves about releasing it grew. Despite wanting to produce music since freshman year, her fear of judgement prevented her from taking the next step.
“There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to releasing a song,” senior and friend Caleb Chang said. “Publicizing something big brings both supporters and haters, and that’s one of the challenges she had to overcome.”
Over the summer, Hosein attended Camp Kaleidoscope at Stanford University, a program for students whose parents had or have cancer. There, she sang to an audience for the first time at a talent show, building the confidence she needed to release her song.
One week after “love a little harder” came out, it reached over 3,000 streams. Hosein’s peers reposted the song release on Instagram.
“Every Fourth of July, I see Izzy playing her piano and singing,” senior and friend Samay Sikri said. “I’m glad that she’s been able to hone that talent and become confident in her voice.”
As “love a little harder” gains popularity, Hosein hopes to release at least two new songs by the end of the school year and be in a college band.
