DI Music Academy’s Eliza Dennis releases debut single at 17

At 17, Bishop England student and Daniel Island Music Academy guitarist Eliza Dennis has already checked off a dream many musicians wait decades to accomplish: releasing her first original single.

And if you ask her, it still feels a little surreal. 

Dennis, a student and staff member at Daniel Island Music Academy, dropped her debut track, “Thought it Mattered,” this fall, a song she wrote in under 30 minutes, produced almost entirely on her own, and now streams on major platforms. 

Music may be her future, but it began simply as something she gravitated toward as a child. “I’ve kind of always been involved in music,” she said. 

Dennis dabbled in piano early, joined chorus in second grade, and “really fell in love with music” in sixth grade while playing flute. When she arrived at Bishop England, where there is no concert band, her path shifted to her church worship team and, eventually, guitar. 

“From that point on, I’ve been focused on guitar, and I haven’t looked back!” she said. “I have been with DIMA since it opened, and it has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had!”  

Dennis added that “playing guitar and singing have become a much more prominent part of my life. It was through DIMA that I first started writing and producing songs, so this truly would not be possible without the music academy.” 

Her influences span genres, from artists like Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams to John Mayer and Megan Moroney. Many of her ideas arrive as quick flashes of emotion or melody, exactly how “Thought it Mattered” was born. 

“I sat down in my room one Monday with the idea for a single lyric, and half an hour later, I had the entire song written,” Dennis said. “It was almost as though the song wrote itself.”  

Producing it took months and plenty of trial and error. “Anything you hear in the song was played or sung by me,” she said, crediting her guitar teacher, Jake Willis, for helping her polish the final mix. 

Her debut single grew from a friendship that faded, capturing that universal moment when two people insist everything is fine, though it isn’t. “It’s written from this place of the realization that the other person is breaking all of the ‘rules’ for how a good friend would treat you,” she said. 

Performing it live, first at the Coastal Carolina Fair and later at fundraisers for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, cemented her dream of creating music others connect with.  

“One of my favorite things about playing music is that it gives me the ability to share something that I absolutely love,” she said.  

Balancing senior year with music isn’t easy, but Dennis is committed to her future.  “I am planning to double major in music production and business. My goal is to eventually be working in a recording studio setting, along with teaching and leading worship.” 

With another single already underway, Dennis hopes to someday write an album. “Writing songs gives me the opportunity to share a bigger piece of myself,” she said, and knowing people connect with her music “means the world.” 

“Thought it Mattered” is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music.