After first experimenting with guitar chords freshman year, senior Hayley Papritz now writes and releases her own music on streaming platforms.
“When I put out my first single, I remember being really nervous because obviously putting out music in high school is kind of scary, and you never know what people your age are gonna think about it or even adults or people on the internet,” said Papritz. “It was just really rewarding in the end to see that people were listening, and people enjoyed it.”
Papritz released her first song, “Brainfreeze,” last October and her second single “American Lover,” this past February.
“Sometimes I try to base a song around one message, and sometimes I let the song kind of write itself,” said Papritz. “I try to stick with themes, especially lyrics, obviously trying to think of things that are clever or things that are going to sound good melodically.”
“Brainfreeze” and “American Lover” have a similar theme of letting yourself live loose, Papritz said.
Both songs were created in collaboration with Dylan Walker, Papritz’s producer at Gravity Studios, a professional recording studio in Chicago.
Papritz and Walker met through a Zoom meeting after she reached out to the studio, Walker said.
“We talked about music and talked about some influences that we both share,” said Walker. “From there, we just booked a session, and vibes were good.”
Papritz’s process for writing music varies each time she writes a song, but she typically starts with either lyrics or chord progressions, Papritz said.
Chord progressions are sequences of chords played one after another.
“And then I’ll either go on piano, or I’ll go on a guitar or sometimes I’ll even go and find a beat online and write over it,” Papritz said.
Papritz begins collaborating with Walker in the studio once she finishes writing a song.
“It’s a collaboration of the whole arrangement of the song,” said Walker. “Sometimes she has ideas, sometimes I have ideas, and we just throw them back and forth.”
Beyond creating music with Walker, Papritz wrote and sang an original song called “There’s Light” for the 2026 Variety Show while baby photos of seniors were displayed behind her.
“The theme was ‘Chromatic’ for V-Show, so I wanted to kind of touch on how feelings can be so chromatic and so different, especially growing up, which is a theme that is really similar to being a senior and graduating high school soon,” said Papritz. “I wanted to think a lot about that because [‘There’s Light’] came from a place of me trying to experience my own feelings.”
Papritz plans to attend Berklee College of Music next fall and major in songwriting.
“There are so many people who have done amazing things coming out of Berklee, so I just want to gain as much knowledge and become the best musician I can be,” Papritz said.
Balancing school, music and everything can be hard, Papritz said.
“The reason why I’m able to create music is because I love it, not because I have to do it, so I think that’s how I’m able to manage it,” said Papritz. “If I wasn’t passionate about it, I wouldn’t have the time.”