On February 22nd, 2025, singer-songwriter and Ole Miss senior Izzy Arthurs packed local music venue Proud Larry’s, drawing a crowd that stretched down the block. Fans were eager to experience her unique sound—a blend of contemporary pop and alternative rock, like a love child of Chappell Roan and Tori Amos.
She learned later that some of her friends weren’t even able to get in because the venue was at capacity for the better part of the evening.
Along with a strong accompanying band of talented musicians, made up of hired guns who travelled from her hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, Izzy had a lively crowd in the palm of her hands through the span of over a dozen popular cover renditions and originals.
“It’s really lucky that they believe in my project. I’m really grateful for these guys,” Izzy said of her band, which consists of drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. “I knew it was going to be a big deal for them to come down to Oxford, but I didn’t know that Oxford would show up for me. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Izzy finds that music is something she’s always gravitated toward naturally, ever since her parents put her into piano lessons back in elementary school.
“When I was a kid, my friends were like, ‘I want to be a firefighter.’ and ‘I want to be a doctor.’ And my knee jerk reaction was – ‘I want to be a rockstar,’” said Izzy, who began trying her hand at songwriting around the age of 10.
“It was always something that kind of made sense to me. And as I’ve kind of grown up, songwriting has been my way of processing life and connecting with other people, too,” she said.
This eventually led to her playing any singer-songwriter showcase she could find, along with an acoustic guitar, until high school when she eventually met other like minded musicians and was able to form a group. Performing quickly became a focus in her life.
Although her parents weren’t very musical, Izzy grew up an only child and music became the vehicle through which she was able to relate to the world.
She doesn’t consider herself a “musician’s musician,” but claims to have a “basic handle on theory,” at least enough to pursue songwriting.
Even though Izzy has always been intent on getting her degree at Ole Miss, she discovered about halfway through her education that all she really wanted to do was perform music.
“I really made the conscious decision that this is going to be my life path,” she said, “and if I want to do this, I have to do it 110 percent.”
Arthurs also worked for an indie record label in Jackson, where she was able to observe some other artists trying to get their foot in the door. This gave her more confidence that a career in music might be a reachable goal.
“It’s just a million baby steps in the right direction,” she said.
Izzy sees the February 22 show at Proud Larry’s as her best performance yet, but the charismatic young woman is ready for her “next best performance,” which is sure to be somewhere right around the corner.
Also in the works is her debut EP, which she has been recording live in the studio in order to harness the authenticity and spontaneity of a band playing together.
“It’s high-risk, high-reward,” said Arthurs. “Everybody plays at the same time, then we see what the best take is. And the goal of that is to show what we sound like live.”
She plans on releasing her first single from the album, a song called “The Skeptic,” this spring, around the same time as Double Decker Festival in Oxford.
Izzy describes her song as “a playful take on what it’s like to fall for somebody when you’ve always been guarded.” She said, “At the end of the day, we all kind of give ourselves over to being a fool for love. We don’t really stand a chance if we are the cynical, safe-playing kind of person.”
Arthurs has a strong sense of synesthesia when she writes her own music, and claims that each of her songs has a vibrant color attached to it. In the case of “The Skeptic,” she says the color is lavender.
Another one of the recordings is a song called “Orbiting,” which she’s been developing in her live set for a few years, and relates to the color green because it conjures impressions of planet Earth.
“It’s about what it’s like to be a human in the 21st century, where we have all this technology and access to people who have left our lives in the physical sense – like after a breakup or a falling out. But you can still keep tabs on them from a distance, through social media, and it’s a very kind of lonely cycle. To me that feels like you’re orbiting them, like a planet.”
But overall, she says the most pervasive thing in her songwriting now is trying to figure out life, through the eyes of a young person “It’s a very painful and beautiful kind of thing.”
Izzy radiates authenticity, and it’s very quick to see in her live show. Besides hopes of a tour later this year, she’ll continue with local appearances until graduation.
These include a show at The Powerhouse on Tuesday, April 22nd, which is a bigger space to accommodate her growing fanbase.
She also intends to continue honing her skills as a songwriter, working on her media, and looking forward to the next recording project.
For more updates, visit IzzyArthurs.com or @IzzyArthursMusic on all social platforms.
