How did a junior high student in rural Iowa come to record one of the best releases I’ve heard this decade? For that matter, how does someone from that background acquire the tools to pull off such a thing? If you ask Bridget Bell — who just released her debut EP, forgive and forget — it’s all about staying true to oneself and being surrounded by a supportive creative community.
Her musical journey began when she was 12 years old, when she got up the nerve to perform some of her original songs on ukulele at Slow Down Coffee Co.’s open mic night. It was hosted by Rachel Gulick, executive director of Girls Rock! Des Moines. Also in attendance was Allegra Hernandez, the director of GR!T Records (an acronym for Girls Rock Informational Technologies).
Girls Rock! Des Moines was established a decade earlier to empower girls, women, nonbinary and trans youth and adults by giving them the means to express themselves through music. Soon after learning about GR!DSM, Bell signed up for their summer camp in 2023 and was hooked. In addition to the summer camp, the org runs a year-round community band that focuses on everything from developing live performance skills to learning how to book DIY shows.
“I made a lot of friends there,” Bell said. “I had my first performance in a group, and after that, I joined their community band. Once you start doing Girls Rock! stuff, it feels like you can do anything.”
Bridget Bell’s passion for music began at age 6, when her grandfather started taking her to piano lessons. After learning to play covers on his ukulele around age 11, she began writing her own songs, building on her interest in penning poetry and stories. She got her first guitar in December 2023, seeking a less bright and childlike sound in her songs than the uke provided.
Aside from her familial influences, she has another North Star. “The artist that I’ve always looked up to since I was about 5 or 6 is Taylor Swift,” Bell told me. “She’s always been my biggest inspiration, because she started writing songs at such a young age, and Taylor started with piano and guitar, just like I did.”
I had been reading Rob Sheffield’s excellent new book Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music, so I quoted a passage for Bell in which Sheffield attends a 2011 Swift concert and is blown away. He could not shut up about it and told anyone who would listen: “Ten years from now, my favorite music will be coming from these girls. The ones who saw this show or heard these songs on the radio, heard this voice tell them, ‘Drop everything now.’ They heard her and decided they needed to do it themselves. As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened.”
“That resonates with me a lot,” Bell replied. “Because I’m definitely one of those girls that was inspired by Taylor Swift. Her passion for music is insane. It makes you want to write music when you see that sort of passion. She really inspired me to start writing from other points of view, not just from my own, like how ‘barnswallow’ is from my friend’s perspective. I’ve also started writing some other songs that are about fictional characters.”
Swift is a superstar who exists in a different cultural and economic universe than punk rock, but a legitimate case can be made for her as a DIY icon. She has empowered artists like Bell to express themselves in the same way that the Slits, Raincoats and other women artists who emerged from underground music scenes inspired earlier generations.
In early 2025, GR!T Records released forgive and forget, which spans a wide range of styles that are anchored in Bell’s quirky take on guitar-pop. It overflows with evocative lyricism that strikes a universal chord while also feeling singular and idiosyncratic — from the way she sings about “my ephemeral love for some old bird” to the line, “I haven’t seen you in forever / so I’ll see you in your dreams.”
Couple that with Bell’s knack for crafting catchy melodies, and you have a recipe for a sweet and savory set of songs that transcend age and social location. forgive and forget is about “moving on from toxic relationships and figuring out when it’s time to forgive people,” she said, “even if they haven’t forgiven you yet.” Thanks to Girls Rock!, Bell had a platform to turn her middle school hurt and angst into five indelible songs, available for all to hear on streaming services.
“The school that I go to, Southeast Polk Junior High, it’s like the opposite of Girls Rock!,” Bell said. “When I’m at Girls Rock!, I’m surrounded by other people that have the same passion for music as me, and who are also going through the same things. It really does feel like a safe space where I can just grab a mic and start singing. I’m not scared to share my ideas about songs and lyrics or go up to people and make new friends.”
The Girls Rock! version of Bridget Bell is a very different person than the one who walks through the doors of Southeast Polk. It’s in a very conservative rural area, and while she has a good group of friends at that school, most of her peers don’t really understand what it’s like to try to make music, and can be quite dismissive of creative pursuits like recording an EP.
While recording forgive and forget, the half-dozen Girls Rock! campers contributed in a variety of ways: working on musical arrangements, playing instruments, setting up gear and interfacing with digital recording software. “It was just me and a group of other teens,” Bell said. “We spent the days down in the recording studio learning how to produce music, and by the end of it, I could record a song on my own. It was awesome. They are really, really good at teaching.”
Allegra Hernandez, director of GR!T Records, helped facilitate the sessions — five songs in five days — with assistance from a talented group of volunteers and staff. Recording was a collaborative effort in which everyone was very supportive, and they enthusiastically helped Bell realize her musical vision from scratch.
“But at the same time,” Hernandez added, “it wasn’t just about Bridget. Everyone had a shining moment and Bridget very much celebrated the work of everyone at camp. I was also struck by her vision. She could listen to a bass track being laid down and say, ‘Oh, you know what? That doesn’t quite go with what I’m playing,’ and just stayed true to what she wanted.”
Bell’s unique approach to songwriting can be heard in “3,727,” which was inspired by a plane ride to see the person who was the subject of the song. What immediately jumps out at the listener is the way she grafts an earworm melody to a potentially unwieldy multi-syllabic chorus (“there’s three thousand two hundred seventy eight miles between us / but only one step away from something new”).
“I liked using numbers throughout that song to tie it together with the title,” Bell explained. “Like that line, ‘It takes me four hours to finally fall asleep when I’m thinking about ya / but only one to write another song about you.’ That song is about this one guy. Most of my songs are about that dude.”
From my early years working as a record store clerk in the ’80s through the decades I’ve spent as a music writer, I have surely listened to tens of thousands of albums in my lifetime. After playing Bell’s forgive and forget on repeat for the past month, I can confidently say that it brings me as much pleasure as most anything I’ve heard in my 54 years on this planet, and I cannot wait to see where she goes from here.
“Sometimes I’ll be listening to pop, and sometimes it’s more indie. Sometimes I listen to more rock and alt music,” said Bell, who recently learned to play Hole’s “Doll Parts” in the GR!DM community band. Hernandez added, “Bridget was just telling me how much she’s starting to get into Hole and is really taken with Courtney Love’s voice and songwriting.”
“Yeah, I was introduced to Hole at Girls Rock! camp recently,” Bell confirmed. “I’d say Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan have been my biggest inspirations, but now I really love Courtney Love — her voice, her songs. I absolutely love Hole.”
Once again, I can happily report that the kids are alright.
Kembrew McLeod and has been a longtime fan of young people making music. Ten years ago, he and his better half Lynne Nugent put together the compilation album For Kids and By Kids: Songs From Iowa Rock City, Volume One. One day they hope to release a volume two. This article was originally published in Little Village’s February 2025 issue.
