Evan Rachel Wood is setting off on a new path. Under the pseudonym Lenore Pink, the actress recently released her first EP, something that likely wouldn’t have happened without Linda Perry’s encouragement.
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On the latest episode of American Songwriter’s Off the Record podcast, Wood told editor-in-chief Lisa Konicki how she and Perry got connected when the singer came across a video of her performing “What’s Up.”
“She got in touch with me over social media and was just like, ‘Hey, I think you’re amazing. Come into to my studio,’” Wood recalled. “And so I showed up and I thought, ‘Well, the last thing she’s going to do is just sit me down in front of a mic and tell me to start singing.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”
Wood said she was “absolutely terrified and really taken aback” by the turn of events, but “did the best I could to sort of squeak out some kind of song.”
“She really gave me some tough love. At one point I was crying in front of the mic because she was really pushing me pretty hard,” Wood said. “I think she’s known for doing that. She kind of breaks you open, and puts you back together. I got the full Linda Perry treatment.”
How Linda Perry Kickstarted Evan Rachel Wood’s Music Career
Eventually, Wood finished a song, after which Perry told her, “I hope this puts you on the path to making music, because I think you should be doing that.”
Looking back, Wood said she considers Perry her “musical fairy godmother.”
“She was the one who really pushed me to do it, and really believed in me, and gave me the confidence. She would ask me to come and sing at shows that she was putting on,” Wood said. “She just really believed in me, and she put me in front of people, in front of audiences.”
“I got my first standing ovation while I was doing a show with her, and it really took me aback,” she continued. “I didn’t know that I could have that sort of effect on a room or singing or anything like that. She got the ball rolling.”
Evan Rachel Wood Discusses Her First Foray Into Music
That all led Wood to August 2025, when she released “Nest” under her long-held pseudonym.
“I’ve always made songs by myself, or weird little sounds, or covers of other songs, and anytime I saved it onto my computer, I always just saved it under Lenore Pink,” Wood explained. “It’s been this alias I’ve had since high school.”
Wood decided to stick with the pseudonym professionally. She did so in the hopes that “people would just find it organically and not know it was me, and find out later.”
“I didn’t want there to be a bias going into listening to the songs if I could help it,” she said. “And so I thought, I”ll just call myself something else. If people know, they know, and if they don’t, great.’”
Several months later, a new song, “Gardenia,” followed. Wood said she considers the track “a love song to oneself.”
“That’s where I was when I sat down and wrote it. I realized I had finally found myself, and I finally loved myself, and I didn’t need to sing about anything painful or anything,” she said. “So much of the grief had been lifted. ‘Nest’ is very much about grief for me, and making peace with it… And ‘Gardenia’ is the flower blooming. I’m waking up, and I’m seeing myself, and I found you, and I love you.”
Evan Rachel Wood on Her New EP and Musical Future
That all led to Feb. 4, when Wood, as Lenore Pink, released her three-song debut EP.
“I’m really inspired by, and healed by, the desert, and desert music, and desert culture. You’ll find me, if I’m not working, somewhere in Zion or Moab or Santa Fe or Sedona,” Wood said. “It’s where I found a lot of healing from everything, and found myself there.”
As such, when Wood started making music, it was “really important” that she create “something that I would want to listen to while I’m driving down a desert highway.”
“It has to have a vibe, and it has to take me to a place, and I want it to match my surroundings,” she said. “So to me, it’s definitely got that Nashville inspiration in it and that Southern flair.”
Wood’s musical journey is far from over. The actress said she’s glad to have “ripped the band-aid off” and shared her music with the world. She intends to keep doing just that.
“I let it pile up and pile up for so long,” she said of her music. “Now I feel like I’m really ready to just keep adding more to that. I don’t have a label or a manager or anything. It’s really just something that I’m doing because I love to do it. It’s just happening organically, and I’m just getting it out. If you like it, cool. If you think it’s really annoying that I’m releasing music and I’m an actor, that’s fine.”
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