Right now, she is Gwen Goizueta, a junior at NHS. But soon, she will be Alara, an artist. This March, Goizueta will be releasing her first EP, titled That’s Not Me. Filled with hints from her personal life, Goizueta’s music will give listeners a sneak peek of who she really is, contrary to the title. She started at the School of Rock in Fishers. After her last concert with the school, she was approached by her current producer. Now, a few months later, Goizueta is preparing to release her EP to the world.

When were you first inspired to write songs?

The first song I ever wrote by myself was about my friends. I was just really happy, and I decided to write. So, I took the night and made it into a song. I didn’t ever think I would make an album now, until I was approached by a record producer named Josh Burnett. Great guy, really cool dude. He approached me after a School of Rock concert, when I used to go there. He was like, “Let’s just, let’s just do some music.” I said yes, [I had] been waiting for [him] to ask me. I honestly cannot give him enough credit. I wouldn’t have even gotten the idea to make an EP if it weren’t for him. That was when I kicked everything into full throttle.

Which song is your favorite song, and what’s the story behind it?

My favorite words are from the white paper song, and that’s why I’m basing the whole album off of it. There was just something about it that just really inspired me, and then everything was about creating. Everything was like, “I’ve got to do something.” My favorite song to listen to is Shine. That song is pretty sad, actually. It’s about trying your best you could be. You can be good at anything, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out in our favor. This song is just about being done with that, but knowing the fact that if you keep going, you can only go up from there. It’s about not giving up. I know I won’t give up.

How did you first hear about Josh Burnett?

He actually worked at School of Rock when I went there. There was one point in time when I was getting too old and Josh was quitting. I thought if he wasn’t doing School of Rock anymore, I wasn’t doing it anymore. I wasn’t having fun, and that was the deal breaker. At the last show, he came up to my mom and talked to her, before he even talked to me. He said that he wanted to make music, and make me happen. From then on, he started coming to my house. The first song we did together was Shine. And this guy – don’t ever let him tell you he’s not an artist. The first time he came over he said “Let’s just make something. Not from anything you’ve had before, let’s just make something.” I’d never done that before. What he does, is he just gets on the piano and makes the first thing you hear in Shine. And it was so good, that we kept it, for the final cut. I write all of the melodies and the words. But he started every song. He has made the music to every song. without him, I would not know what to do. Seriously – don’t let him tell you he’s not creative.

What made you want to pursue this path at a young age?

I’m very serious about singing. I was taking lessons to make my voice the best it could be. Truthfully, my voice could be like an angel, which it wasn’t, but I wasn’t doing anything about it. I was in choir, and I loved choir, but I felt like I wasn’t doing anything to show people what I’m capable of. I felt like I needed to pursue this, right now. That made me work harder. I guess I just needed the push to do it.

What’s been the craziest part of making an EP?

I was with Josh recently and he said he needed to make me some sort of mean, some sort of sassy. He said he needed Alara to not be Gwen. The craziest part is that I am literally not Gwen when I’m doing my music. I’m Alara – my middle name. Alara is older, more experienced, and I think Alara has a side to her that I don’t think I have. When Josh and I were talking, he told me that I needed to have some sort of switch where I stopped thinking of what others think and make this music mine.

What’s it been like creating something that is all you?

It’s been hard, because I don’t want to make it sound like something that’s been done before, which is especially hard with pop. So that’s been a challenge. One of the hardest parts of making this EP has been letting go. Like, not thinking. I’m a very inside-of-my-head type of person. I think the hardest part has been trying to not to sing perfectly. I can’t sing the music if I’m thinking about what the next note is going to be. I [eventually] did it, but it was hard to think about how the song makes me feel and rely on that. That was hard. What [Josh and I] did one night was sat down for three hours one night and I wrote down in my notebook how each of my songs made me feel. We talked about each song. Some of the first lines in my songs are pretty profound, and pretty relatable. I’m glad I sat down and got to think, I’m going to put this snare here, I’m going to play this note here, and I’m going to sing this note like this, and now that we’re done, and to finish this, I needed to step back and say what did I just do? Because that’s not what I was thinking about. I was thinking about how it would sound.

What are your plans after the EP comes out?

Advertise. I talked to people at little places like Vardgn, to see if I could get little gigs there. Just putting it out there… Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud, Youtube. Just putting it out there. Josh told me something crazy… he told me that it could be something. It’s not just something that my parents did for me for fun, but that it could really be something. He said if it is something, I could be spending my senior year on a bus doing school online, because we’re releasing it pretty soon. I’m going to tell everybody [about the EP]. Instead of waiting for people to ask me, I’m just going to tell everyone. The release date is dangerously close.