For many of us, life can feel like a race. Social media feeds are filled with engagement announcements, career milestones, first homes, moves to new countries, and holidays. It can be easy to look around and wonder if everyone else is moving forward while you’re somehow standing still.
For emerging indie-pop singer-songwriter Beth Elsden, those feelings became the foundation of her debut EP, The Waiting Room.
The five-track collection explores the often-overlooked chapters of life where growth quietly unfolds behind the scenes. Written over a five-year period, the EP reflects Elsden’s own experience of watching friends and peers tick off major life milestones while she remained focused on developing her craft.
“It’s a collection of stories about those in-between moments in your life where you are still finding your feet and feel like you are waiting for your life to truly start,” Elsden explained.
Rather than rushing to release music, Elsden spent years refining her sound alongside producer Abby Wolfe, allowing each song to evolve naturally. Interestingly, while the production shifted and developed over time, the lyrics remained untouched from their original drafts.
“Every one of them is as written in terms of lyrics; none of that was edited down from my first draft (for better or for worse),” she added. “But sonically, we definitely played around until we felt like we had left no stone unturned.”
One of her favourite moments on the EP comes in Losing You Slow, where a traditional big finale was abandoned in favour of something more subtle and haunting.
“We ended up with this soft, eerie final chorus instead, with a bunch of vocals and adlibs surrounding it. It’s one of my favourite parts of the EP.”
Across the project, Elsden explores heartbreak, uncertainty, gratitude and self-discovery. While each track captures a different chapter, Peace Comes With It proved to be one of the most challenging songs to write.
Originally commissioned for a documentary about world peace, Elsden struggled with the enormity of the topic before finding a more personal angle.
“I just didn’t feel qualified to speak on the mammoth of a topic, so I had to contemplate what peace means to me,” Elsden said. “Once I realised that I wanted to write about how I manage to appreciate my life amongst the chaos in the world, the song came pretty naturally from there.”
That sense of reflection runs throughout the EP. What began as a creative experiment has ultimately helped Elsden understand herself more clearly.
When she first started writing the project, a career in music felt distant. University had offered the possibility of a more conventional path, but she continually found herself returning to songwriting, theatre productions, and creative projects.
“I’ve learnt that being creative is what makes me feel most fulfilled in this life,” she said.
The process of bringing The Waiting Room to life also introduced her to new creative passions beyond songwriting, from developing visual concepts to planning photoshoots and live performances.
“I’ve come out the other side of this project knowing that making music is not just in pursuit of a potential career, but a need in my life.”
Now that the EP is finally out in the world, Elsden isn’t slowing down. A new collection of songs is already taking shape, with plans for another EP and collaborations with new producers and fellow songwriters.
She’s also eager to spend more time performing live.
“I am hoping to do a lot of live performances in the next year, as it’s something I really value. I want to put in my 10,000 hours.”
For anyone currently feeling stuck in their own waiting room, Elsden’s debut serves as a timely reminder that growth doesn’t always happen on a visible timeline. Sometimes the seasons that feel the slowest are the ones shaping us the most.
