In just three years, country singer and songwriter Ingrid Andress has already picked up four Grammy nominations, including one for her 2019 debut hit, “More Hearts Than Mine,” her 2020 debut album, Lady Like, and a 2023 nod for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for her No. 1 duet with Sam Hunt, “Wishful Drinking,” which she also co-wrote.
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Releasing her second album Good Person in 2022, long before her own solo musical dwellings, the Colorado native was already starting to co-write more than two dozen songs for a number of pop, hard rock, and country artists—with several tracks also appearing on film soundtracks. Co-writing the DJ Vice dance hit “Steady 1234” in 2016 and Charli XCX’s 2017 single “Boys” early on, Andress even jumped into a writing session with Alicia Keys along the way.
“No one’s born a songwriter,” said Andress. “You actually have to work at it and write some terrible songs. Just because you write a terrible song doesn’t mean you’re a bad songwriter. It’s all about the time, the place, and the people that you write with. There’s no method to the madness.”
Here are seven songs Ingrid Andress has already written for other artists in just half a decade.
1. “Boys” by Charli XCX (2017)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Cass Lowe, Jerker Hansson, Ari Leff, Emily Warren, Michael Pollack
Sampling the iconic Nintendo game Super Mario Bros, Charlie XCX’s 2017 single “Boys” was initially written for her third album, Charli, but leaked out earlier than expected and was instead dropped as a stand-alone single. Andress later released an acoustic version of “Boys” on her 2020 debut, Lady Like.
I need that bad boy to do me right on a Friday
And I need that good one to wake me up on a Sunday
That one from work can come over on Monday night
I want ’em all
I want ’em all
And when they finally leave me I’m all alone, but
I’m looking down and my girls are blowing my phone up
Them twenty questions, they asking me where I’m at
Didn’t hit ’em back
2. “Conflicted,” Halestorm (2018)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Lzzy Hale, Joe Hottinger, Andre Davidson, Michael Pollock, and Stephen Puth
Off Halestorm‘s fourth album, Vicious, “Conflicted” was written by vocalist Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger, along with several writers outside of hard rock, including Andress, Michael Pollock (Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber), Andre Davidson (Kelly Clarkson, Rita Ora) and Stephen Puth, the younger brother of Charlie Puth. At first, the band was close to cutting the track but kept it on, slowly stripping back its arrangement.
“Our first version of it ended up being this hard rock, balls-to-the-wall,” revealed Hale in a 2018 interview. “It didn’t really work with lyrically how I was kind of wrapping up the song.” She added, “That was the most difficult nut to crack because it didn’t start out with the nucleus of us so it was kind of hard to figure out how to make it work on the record.”
And I hate that I’m conflicted
This addiction’s got me twisted on you
I’m conflicted, contradictive
Got my body confused
I’m yes or no, I will, I won’t
I’m conflicted and addicted
So come over and make up my mind
3. “No Saint,” Lauren Jenkins (2019)
Written by Ingrid Andress and Lauren Jenkins
The title track off Jenkins’ debut album, “No Saint” is a slowed-down reflective country “confession to the fact that I am flawed, and at times broken,” said Jenkins of the lyrics. She added that the song is also “a confession to being unable to forgive the person I loved, after all that had happened between us [and] that sometimes loving someone hurts like hell.” Jenkins admitted that writing the song was an emotional exercise, which resulted in an all-night writing session with Andress—and several bottles of wine—with both finishing “No Saint” just as the sun came up.
“I think at the end of the day, we are all a little damaged, a little broken, and we all make mistakes,” said Jenkins. “I wrote ‘No Saint’ to shed light on the darkness and to remind myself that it’s okay that I’m not perfect.”
You say I’m an angel, and angels don’t get low
Baby, you broke my wings oh so long ago
I thought it’d make me stronger, I thought we’d make it through
Turns out it just hurts like hell loving you
So I opened up the Bible
Memorized the book of John
And you washed your hands in holy water
Swearing all your sins were gone
If there’s a cure for being pure again, I can’t find it anywhere
And I don’t want to hate you
Heaven says I need to forgive you
But I ain’t no saint
4. “About You,” Fletcher (2019)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Kara DioGuardi, AJ Pruis, Cari Fletcher, Derrick Adam Southerland
Off Fletcher’s extended play EP, You Ruined New York for Me, “About You” is an emotional track about letting someone go. A native of the early Bruce Springsteen dwelling, Asbury Park, New Jersey, Fletcher (real name Cari Elise Fletcher), released her debut full-length album, Girl of My Dreams, in 2022.
But now I’m thinking, I’ll never stop thinking about you
Yeah, I’m just wondering when I’ll stop wondering about you
You got your hands on me, you got your hands on me
A thousand miles away, but you still got your hands on me
And I’m thinking, I’ll never stop thinking about you
Now I’m just thinking about you, no, no
5. “Girl in the Mirror,” Bebe Rexha (2019)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Jonas Jeberg, Neil Richard Ormandy
Addressing some of the unnatural pressures and self-deprecations stimulated by social media, “Girl in the Mirror” is sung from the perspective of a girl questioning her value in comparison to all the “pretty” faces she sees online. Performed by Bebe Rexha, the song appeared in the 2019 animated film UglyDolls, also starring Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, Blake Shelton, Lizzo, comedian and actress Wanda Sykes, and Nick Jonas, among others. Rexha also voiced the character of the blue-haired “doll” Tuesday, who is a member of the Spy Girls.
I’m tired of my thoughts
They weigh me down, feels like I’m drowning
I’m tired of my flaws, they fill me with anxiety and I
Honestly, I’m done with hating pictures of myself
And tryna be like everybody else
I wanna be like, look like
The girl in the mirror
Wanna act like, dance like
No one’s watching her
I could try to be just like you
But I wanna be like me
The girl in the mirror
I’m sick of the likes
And followers, everyone’s countin’
I’m sick of the lies
Smilin’ but I’m crying inside
Honestly, I’m done with hating pictures of myself
And tryna be like everybody else
6. “Invisible Chains,” Lauren Jauregui (2020)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Lauren Jauregui, Evan Kidd Bogart, Mark Williams, Jonathan Bellion, David Pramik, Raul Cubina
Featured on the soundtrack for the 2020 superhero film, Birds of Prey, centered around DC Comics character Harley Quinn and starring Margot Robbie, “Invisible Chains” is performed by former Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui.
Dropping a number of singles, including her debut, “Expectations,” in October 2018, Jauregui also collaborated with DJ Steve Aoki for the dancehall hit “All Night” in 2017 and is featured with Halsey on her 2018 single, “Strangers.” Jauregui released her debut EP, Prelude, in 2021.
I don’t believe in your fairytales and goals
Conozco la virgen and she’s working on my soul
Oh, this ain’t over yet
Still got demons in my head, yeah, yeah
Cold sweating in my bed, whoa
Don’t wanna get used to
Screaming in my sleep like every night
Just praying on the day when I see the light
‘Bout a hundred miles deep, but I’m feeling like
I’m running outta time
7. “i didn’t lie,” LANY (2021)
Written by Ingrid Andress, Paul Klein, Noah Patrick Conrad
Released as a batch of previously unreleased tracks on the deluxe version of the pop group LANY’s fourth album, gg bb xx, “i didn’t lie” is a song about leaving a relationship when it’s best for the two people involved. The new gg bb xx tracks also featured “i die first,” “remember that,” “they don’t make ’em like you anymore,” and “the older you get, the less you cry.”
I told you forever, that’s exactly how I felt
When I first met you, didn’t want nobody else
I know it feels like we got a lot to lose
But it hasn’t been that long, and we haven’t said, “I do”
Not right for me, not right for you, so it’s not right for us
You hate me, but you’ll thank me in a couple months
You know it takes time to see all of the sides
Sometimes you move fast then move on, baby, that’s life
I swear I meant every word that I said to you
I didn’t lie, I didn’t lie
I just changed my mind
Photo by Olivia Bee / Permanent Press Media
