Communication junior Ani Kabillio’s introduction to songwriting came early. By age 4, she was crafting simple melodies accompanied by her dad, who would strum along on the guitar. She performed her first original song, “Spring is in the Air,” at her pre-K graduation.
Now 21 years old, Kabillio is making waves with her debut album “Ripples.” Released on April 4, the introspective, self-produced project captures years of songwriting shaped by her upbringing and deep emotional connection to friendship and memory.
Born and raised in the Lower East Side of New York City to filmmaker parents, Kabillio was surrounded by creativity from a young age. Her grandfather, a Juilliard-trained percussionist, noticed her musical talent early on.
“He always recognized me as musical,” Kabillio said. “He was like, ‘That one is going to be the musician one.’”
His prediction held true, and by age 7, she started regularly performing in school musicals and talent shows.
Kabillio went on to study vocal performance at LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, which produced alumni such as Timothée Chalamet, Nicki Minaj and Al Pacino. She said this experience laid the foundation for her technical training and artistic development.
The spring of her sophomore year at NU, Kabillio set out to record her first album. The idea for the album didn’t emerge all at once. Kabillio had recorded music before but never released any of it, often caught in a cycle of perfectionism.
“I’d listen to things too much and drive myself insane,” Kabillio said.
Dissatisfied with its sound and direction, she kept her work to herself. That changed after what she described as an “intense aging crisis” during her sophomore year.
“I was like, ‘I’m turning 20. What have I done?’” Kabillio said. “I haven’t done anything of importance or that I wanted, that I set out for myself to do.”
Kabillio promised to herself that when she returned home over the summer, she would finally record an album. Her dedication to the project was unmistakable to those around her.
“Music is really important to her. It’s a huge part of her identity,” Medill junior Kennedy French said. “She’s always writing, she’s always singing. She’s always wanted to make something and just have something to show for herself.”
She reached out to a few friends from high school and formed a band. In two days, they recorded most of the project — excluding the album’s closer, “Not a Home,” which was recorded as a voice memo in her bedroom closet — at a friend’s “back alley” recording studio in Nyack, New York.
The songs on the album span from high school to college compositions.
“I just was so blown away,” said Kabillio’s roommate Communication junior Veronica Silvosa after the album’s release. “I always would hear her singing in our shared room. But hearing all the work that she’s been putting in, hearing it all in one product is just amazing.”
The album’s title track, “Ripples,” opens with the faint sound of running water and a child’s voice, which she discovered from a family video recorded from when she was a child. At one point, her father prompts her to sing a song about a fountain, to which she responds, “Maybe a song about water?”
Kabillio said the discovery felt oddly serendipitous. Without intending it, she had named the album “Ripples” and built it around imagery of water.
“I’m like, ‘How weird is that?’’ Kabillio said. “This is bizarre.”
When asked to describe her sound, Kabillio said it’s a mix.
“It can’t fit into a genre,” Kabillio said. “If I said pop, that would be inaccurate. If I said folk, that would be inaccurate.”
Instead, she leans on terms like “indie,” “alternative” and “singer-songwriter” to describe her work, though none of them feel like a perfect fit, she said.
She said the inspiration for her music mostly comes from her relationships. While romantic relationships can be a source of material, she often finds that friendship plays a more central role in her songwriting.
“Friendship is something that I have much more experience with in my life,” Kabillio said. “A lot of people, especially our age, have more experience with friendship and long term friends that have been there, supporting you or disappointing you.”
When emotions become overwhelming, writing becomes a form of release for her.
“I feel and care very deeply,” Kabillio said. “A lot of the time, the only way for me to have any sort of catharsis is by writing a song.”
For Kabillio, “Ripples” is just the first wave. She is back at her notebook hoping to record a deluxe version of the album, which will include a few additional songs.
“It’s more about what makes more of an impact. Like, one big wave that crashes or like a steady ripple that just keeps going,” Kabillio said. “It’s the beginning of something that will hopefully continue for a while.”
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