Inspired by the thankless work of caregivers and teachers, Kelsey Ellen’s first album of original music “Poor Me,” started as a collection of songs to help her cope.

Kelsey wrote the title track at the beginning of the school year in 2017, dreading the work of being a teacher in an underfunded school district, wanting to hold tighter to the lingering summer days- while also grappling with the feelings of guilt because really, life wasn’t so bad.

This sentiment informed so many songs, many of which were written in 2020 as a way to pass the time and understand a new pace of life- one we are all coming to terms with in our own way.

The most recent song on the album puts a figurative bow on the whole idea behind this capitalist-critical sentiment, and moves away from the title tracks story as a burnt-out teacher at the beginning of her career, to the experiences that we’ve all watched our parents, grandparents, and elders go through- when it’s time for them to retire, they need to retire, but they can’t quit yet. “Too Busy to Work” is for the millennials and gen-Zers that… you know…“Nobody wants to do hard work anymore” and for the gen X-ers and boomers that thought the world would have let them live it up by now.

This album is a thoughtful critique of the grind we live in, peppered with hope and inspiration drawn from relationships in nature and genuine community. “Poor Me,” is full of affirmations that you are not alone in your experience and daydreams of what the future could be if we could all just agree on something.