Lindsay Ell Calls New Album ‘Heart Theory’ the ‘Science of a Heart’ (Exclusive)

Lindsay Ell‘s new album, Heart Theory, is a chronological journey of the singer’s life over the past few years, but it’s also a gift for fans as a map for anyone looking to navigate heartbreak or anything else they might be going through.

“If theory is the science of music, then this album is the science of a heart,” Ell told PopCulture.com for our series PopCulture @ Home. “This album is the science of how I’ve gotten through the process. Just like an experiment gives you directions. This is what you do. Step one to step 12. This album for me is how you get through and navigate going through the tunnel, doing the work, coming out the other side is somebody who is finally ready to take control of their life.”

The Canadian star explained that Heart Theory moves through the seven stages of grief, beginning with denial and moving to acceptance. “I think we go through transformative times consistently throughout the course of our lives, whether it’s from getting out of a relationship, losing a loved one, losing a job or going through a global pandemic, we constantly go through these moments in our lives and as human beings have to feel every step of the way,” she said. “I wrote a record in order from track one being stage one of shock, then through denial, anger, bargaining all the way down to stage seven at track 12 of acceptance, being able to look in the mirror and fully accept yourself for everything that you are, everything that’s happened in your life to bring you to this moment.”

Heart Theory encompasses everything Ell has gone through over the past three years, including a breakup, a major health scare and turning 30 years old. “It’s just a lot of moments have happened where I’m like, okay, I’m ready to find out that deeper layer of what being authentic to myself means right now,” she said, adding that she hopes her new music can be support, empathy or inspiration for listeners to take on “their own journey of themselves.”

Ell co-wrote every song on the album and wrote with a number of her fellow country stars including Brandy Clark, Tyler Hubbard and Kane Brown, a process she compares to therapy. “I love therapy and I’ve been going to therapy for years specifically, I’ve been really digging, digging in the past couple years and I feel like I’ve still saved thousands of dollars of therapy because I wrote this record,” she said. “So writing is huge therapy to me and these songs have really really helped me reach that deeper level of healing.”

The 30-year-old shared that she hopes when people listen to Heart Theory, “it causes them to reflect on a deeper level of themselves.” “I feel like so often we carry all of these feelings that are so heavy and we don’t realize how much they have an effect on our everyday life,” she mused. “And we don’t realize how much we need to really focus on finding that true real level of who we are authentically and focusing on loving ourselves to a deeper level… If this album can, I just hope it can be heard by the ears that need to hear it, to inspire them to do so.”