Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Darcel.
Hi Elizabeth, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started off singing in church. First in the choir, then doing specials for Easter Sunday or Christmas. I moved into school performances and eventually theatrical productions. Then came GarageBand. I began creating simple backing tracks and recording low quality samples of ideas that I had for covers on an old MacBook Pro that I got from a Pawn Shop. I never took it too seriously. I slowly got better at it and more polished in quality but I was still doing covers of other peoples music. I never recorded my own music initially. I hadn’t been through enough to be able to tell my story through song. That’t what I feel songwriting is, at least for me. Venting. That’s how it started. Life had to really hurt me. A needle had to prick me for all that pain to come pouring out. Something changed when my mom died. She was the person I took my recordings to. She was the only person I felt comfortable sharing with. But she went into the hospital in 2017 for the last time with Stage 4 Liver Cancer and never came back out. It broke me. She had almost died so many times before in my childhood that I guess I didn’t believe she could die. But there she was, ice cold on a table at the funeral home for the final viewing. I broke that day. There was no needle, it was a sword. I split in half and music poured out of me. I purchased my first microphone and recording setup shortly after that day. I was furious, confused, and suddenly all alone. She was my best friend. A lot of my earlier songs were about that pain. However, there was a hopeful and seemingly out of place overlap of love songs. I fell in love for the first time with a man that would later become my husband. He saved me from my broken heart. I believe he was sent by God at just the right time to do just that.
I spent a long time running from God. Trying to make music that would appeal to the masses. I gained some popularity and had a bit of an online following, but chasing after the approval of people who were strangers was no way to write music. I wrote initially out of pure honesty of what I was going through. But as I gained popularity, I lost my honesty and started trying to write like fellow artist that had surged in popularity in a very short period of time.
In 2023 my dad died. The music stopped. I thought I was writing for the approval of others but it took him passing for me to realize, I was writing for the approval of him. It was so abrupt. I deleted most of my online presence, deleted a lot of my music and just stopped. My daughter was born shortly after my father passed so on top of having no drive anymore, I also had no time.
So I ended up right back where I started, with my musical outlet primarily being in church. And I was happy with that, but God wasn’t. In 2025, I was driving back up to Missouri from a family reunion in Arkansas and God spoke to me. “Are you ready to pick me, now?” That was it. I said yes, and was flooded with song ideas, not about me, or my pain, of my experiences, but his kingdom. I haven’t released anything yet because I’m still in the beginning stages of putting this album together, but it will be my first full album and it will be entirely about my testimony. Stay tuned.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest obstacle has been me. Doubt in myself. A fear of failing that is so great that I don’t even want to begin. Fear that I’m not good enough. That was what my dad told me, I wasn’t good enough so I wouldn’t be successful in it. He was a damaged person. I see that now and I no longer hold it against him. But the past is a lot to recover from.
Now, I would say my obstacle has been free time. I’m a mom of three and a wife. I have a full time job, I’m a leader at my church. Its tight. Sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day. Especially as my kiddos get older. I want to be available for them. So it’s a tight schedule and finding a free moment to lay down a track with a toddler “singing” along in the background is challenging. Also, I’m in a remote area, so recording studio access is borderline nonexistent. Which is why I’m in the writing and polishing phase of this album. But the lord will make a way. He always does.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a singer/songwriter focusing on Christian praise and worship music which is a jump from my former genre. I previously wrote secular music and that’s what I gained popularity from, but I’m going back to writing honest music, not just what I think people want to hear. I’m really excited about it, and I want to be pleasing to my creator, so here we go! I’m not going to make stereotypical Toby Mac, Brandon Lake Christian music. They’ve already perfected that. I want something that is uniquely me. I’m in love with a lot of “obscure” christian artists that I’ve never heard on the radio. Christian Jazz, R&B, Soul, and Acoustic Folk with some Country elements thrown in. When a song starts that’s one of mine, you’ll know it.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I have a long history of struggling with my mental health. My childhood was spent in and out of different psychiatric facilities for suicidal thoughts/attempts. My father was abusive and I struggled with self hatred for a long time. This was compounded by heavy cannabis usage for nearly 15 years that made the mood fluctuations of my bipolar disorder episodes far more extreme. Praise God, I’ve been clean for nearly 10 months.
I would encourage anyone who struggles with mental health, don’t be embarrassed, and don’t be ashamed of yourself. People want to help you so just be honest. It can get better. You don’t have to stay trapped inside of your own head. There’s a whole world outside of it full of people who love you and want the best for you.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethdarcel
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuuDlvDeoTdUBr4CRVoNdUQ
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-darcel
- Other: elizabethdarcel@gmail.com
