THIS IS LIFE. ETHAN FORTENBERRY IS LEARNING TO DEAL WITH IT.
You can most likely find Ethan Fortenberry listening to “This is Life” (by Winnetka Bowling League, Medium Build and Dawes), trying to remember his shower thoughts, or anywhere you see a big red ball. Sometimes he’s in the studio recording songs for his project Ethansroom.
Fortenberry has been operating under Ethansroom since 2016, and is currently gearing up to put out his third studio album BIGGER LOVE on October 4. Love is hard and confusing, but oh-so-necessary. Ethansroom has helped him along his journey coming to terms with all the facts of love, and he hopes to help just one more person do the same.
Through many years of dealing with love and loss he has figured out his own songwriting voice, and has started to break down the fortress of feelings in his mind. Yes, Ethansroom is his place to sing but the biggest thing the project has done for Fortenberry is give him the ability to talk. Talk about his feelings, talk about how he wants to sound , talk about where he came from.
“Before I figured out like what my voice was with songwriting, I kind of had to rely on production and I had to rely on influences sound wise,” Fortenberry began. “In between that record [A Year and Then Some] and this one, you know, learning about mental health stuff, learning about the way my brain works, learning how to keep up with how my brain works, and just forever learning, loving, changing, dealing with the flow. All the most important things. I need to work on that last one.”
BIGGER LOVE is a significant mark on the timeline in his life, starting a more open period. He’s still the same person, yes, but he’s leaving many things behind. Some things have changed within himself, while some are laid out for all to see. The most eye-catching one is his signature big red ball.
Life is a playground, everybody’s a kid, the only difference from then is having money to spend (according to his song “NANA”). For Ethan Fortenberry these truths are portrayed not only through his songwriting, but a big red ball seen throughout his social media and single covers.
“It just kind of came to me one day. I like to draw a lot on my iPad and for some reason, I was just trying to think about what's the connection between all these songs I was making? I was learning how to love, and how to accept it, and how to give it a lot better. And then I was like, ‘Okay, what's, what's a symbol for that?’” Fortenberry explains of the lighthearted symbolism behind his signature visuals. “A Big Red Heart feels kind of corny, and a Big Red Ball feels more universal and it's just like an easy thing.”
BIGGER LOVE is for anyone who needs a hug. This third album is a concrete show of how Ethan Fortenberry and his project Ethansroom have changed over the three years it took to make it.
By no means would he consider himself perfect, but maybe it would’ve helped to have something just like this in the world when he needed it. He embraces the person it took to get him where he is today, and thanks his friends, collaborators (especially Jason Bennett) and anyone he treated like a licensed therapist along the way.
The final single, “Getaway”, off of BIGGER LOVE is out today.