Through her music, Viva Corless is unfolding a love letter to her sonic authenticity.

After her second time auditioning, the second-year theater student will take the stage for her first Spring Sing to perform her original song “Eat Your Words.” Corless said she wrote “Eat Your Words” when she was 16, and the song reckons with the societal pressures young women and queer people face growing up. With a full backing band of friends to perform alongside her, Corless said she is excited to give a spotlight to both her song and her fellow musicians.

“I want to help uplift my experience and make it a universal experience and help any other women in the audience, or queer people in the audience, understand that their experience is universal – they’re not alone,” Corless said.

[Related: Sheng Chang weaves authenticity, vulnerability into capstone EP ‘Feel It All’]

The “Eat Your Words” demo is the first track on Corless’ album “As Long as I Can,” which she released November 2023. At first, Corless said she wanted the album, which initially began as a school project, to display a polished and professional sound. However, when studio production fell through, Corless said she decided to embrace the raw messiness of her artistry in the album’s sound.

“As Long as I Can” is an ode to Corless’ hometown of Sacramento, where Corless said she settled after years of moving between Sacramento and Washington, D.C. With her mother coming from a lineage of folk musicians and her father being a drum player, Corless said she found reassurance and familiarity in music amid the shifting chapters of her life. She added that she began writing songs as a way to understand the complexity behind her emotions.

“Music, more than something to do in my free time, has a deep meaning,” Corless said. “It’s connecting with past generations of my family and my mom and my grandparents through this universal language of music.”

Corless, who primarily plays the guitar, said her sound is greatly inspired by the folk and Americana music in her family. Diana Williams, Corless’ mother, said her daughter’s taste in music is eclectic and constantly changing, with some of the defining artists in Corless’ life including Miles Davis, The Beatles and Adrianne Lenker. When it came to writing “Eat Your Words,” Corless said the song “Marigold” by Nirvana was a direct inspiration.

Williams said Corless brings a joyful and effortless presence to the stage, even when she sings about heavy topics such as heartbreak or societal injustice. Williams added that Corless recorded different parts of her debut album in her bedroom on a Spire Studio recording device. Throughout the process, Williams said Corless stayed true to the topics that resonated with her, while still remaining open to constructive criticism, even when it was difficult to accept.

Despite facing challenges, Corless said her musical journey has taught her to trust in her own artistic capabilities. When she first began working on “As Long as I Can,” Corless said she felt overwhelmed by the pursuit of perfectionism that she associated with artistic success. However, letting go of this perfectionist mentality allowed Corless to hone in on the album’s messier coming-of-age themes in a way that felt honest to her 16-year-old self, she said.

“Art is a form of processing,” Corless said. “It’s been an outlet. I wasn’t going to just wait around for everything to sound perfect.”

[Related: Grace Masura’s ‘Here’s to Her Voice’ event brings women in music together]

When it comes to the storytelling aspect of songwriting, Corless said her education in theater has helped her build compelling dynamics in her music, similar to how she performs a scene with the intention of reaching a story’s climactic moment. Judith Moreland – the head of acting and a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television – said Corless loves creative challenges, highlighting her imaginative approaches to various pieces of dialogue. Moreland added that Corless’ artistry is defined by her optimism and compassion toward human beings, as well as her honesty about her own unique perspective on the world.

Through the Spring Sing audition process, Corless said she realized she does not need to hold back on telling the stories of her lived experiences. At first, she said she considered not submitting an audition tape at all, thinking that “Eat Your Words” was too bold to appeal to a broader audience. However, with friends and family supporting her musical vision, Corless said she learned there is value behind what she sings.

“I think one of the best experiences ever, and, to me, what makes life worth living, is sharing something – whether it’s a song that I wrote, or whether it’s a monologue or a part that I play in a theatrical piece – and someone coming up to me, who I don’t know, saying, ‘Thank you so much. I really saw myself in that,’” Corless said.