FEATURE:
Spotlight
Lenore Pink
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PERHAPS more brief…
IN THIS PHOTO: Evan Rachel Wood (Lenore Pink)
than I would normally be when it comes to these features, I did want to spotlight Lenore Pink. This is the musical pseudonym of Evan Rachel Wood. I am going to include exerts from a recent podcast appearance where she discussed her music career. Whilst there are not many interviews around her new music and that side of career, they will come. I wanted to spotlight Lenore Pink, as I am a fan of Evan Rachel Wood and she is an incredible artist. I have written many times about actors getting into music. How there is this feeling that it is about vanity of they are not genuine. I recently wrote about Kate Hudson and her debut album, Glorious, which I revisited. How there were these accusations made when she put out music. For Rachel Evan Wood, this has been a love of hers for so long. However, it is difficult going into music if you are an actor. In terms of what people might say. How it is a different world and there would have been some hesitations. As we learn from her appearance on American Songwriter’s Off the Record podcast, it took a bit of a push from a music legend to get Evan Rachel Wood over the line:
“On the latest episode of American Songwriter’s Off the Record podcast, Wood told editor-in-chief Lisa Konicki how she and Perry got connected when the singer came across a video of her performing “What’s Up.”
“She got in touch with me over social media and was just like, ‘Hey, I think you’re amazing. Come into to my studio,’” Wood recalled. “And so I showed up and I thought, ‘Well, the last thing she’s going to do is just sit me down in front of a mic and tell me to start singing.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”
Wood said she was “absolutely terrified and really taken aback” by the turn of events, but “did the best I could to sort of squeak out some kind of song.”
“She really gave me some tough love. At one point I was crying in front of the mic because she was really pushing me pretty hard,” Wood said. “I think she’s known for doing that. She kind of breaks you open, and puts you back together. I got the full Linda Perry treatment.”
How Linda Perry Kickstarted Evan Rachel Wood’s Music Career
Eventually, Wood finished a song, after which Perry told her, “I hope this puts you on the path to making music, because I think you should be doing that.”
Looking back, Wood said she considers Perry her “musical fairy godmother.”
“She was the one who really pushed me to do it, and really believed in me, and gave me the confidence. She would ask me to come and sing at shows that she was putting on,” Wood said. “She just really believed in me, and she put me in front of people, in front of audiences.”
“I got my first standing ovation while I was doing a show with her, and it really took me aback,” she continued. “I didn’t know that I could have that sort of effect on a room or singing or anything like that. She got the ball rolling.”
Evan Rachel Wood Discusses Her First Foray Into Music
That all led Wood to August 2025, when she released “Nest” under her long-held pseudonym.
“I’ve always made songs by myself, or weird little sounds, or covers of other songs, and anytime I saved it onto my computer, I always just saved it under Lenore Pink,” Wood explained. “It’s been this alias I’ve had since high school.”
Wood decided to stick with the pseudonym professionally. She did so in the hopes that “people would just find it organically and not know it was me, and find out later.”
“I didn’t want there to be a bias going into listening to the songs if I could help it,” she said. “And so I thought, I”ll just call myself something else. If people know, they know, and if they don’t, great.’”
Several months later, a new song, “Gardenia,” followed. Wood said she considers the track “a love song to oneself.”
“That’s where I was when I sat down and wrote it. I realized I had finally found myself, and I finally loved myself, and I didn’t need to sing about anything painful or anything,” she said. “So much of the grief had been lifted. ‘Nest’ is very much about grief for me, and making peace with it… And ‘Gardenia’ is the flower blooming. I’m waking up, and I’m seeing myself, and I found you, and I love you.”
Evan Rachel Wood on Her New EP and Musical Future
That all led to Feb. 4, when Wood, as Lenore Pink, released her three-song debut EP.
“I’m really inspired by, and healed by, the desert, and desert music, and desert culture. You’ll find me, if I’m not working, somewhere in Zion or Moab or Santa Fe or Sedona,” Wood said. “It’s where I found a lot of healing from everything, and found myself there.”
As such, when Wood started making music, it was “really important” that she create “something that I would want to listen to while I’m driving down a desert highway.”
“It has to have a vibe, and it has to take me to a place, and I want it to match my surroundings,” she said. “So to me, it’s definitely got that Nashville inspiration in it and that Southern flair.”
Wood’s musical journey is far from over. The actress said she’s glad to have “ripped the band-aid off” and shared her music with the world. She intends to keep doing just that.
“I let it pile up and pile up for so long,” she said of her music. “Now I feel like I’m really ready to just keep adding more to that. I don’t have a label or a manager or anything. It’s really just something that I’m doing because I love to do it. It’s just happening organically, and I’m just getting it out. If you like it, cool. If you think it’s really annoying that I’m releasing music and I’m an actor, that’s fine”.
Lenore Pink will grow in terms of social media coverage and interview. It would be great to read more interviews with Evan Rachel Wood around her music. This is a side of her that I am fascinated by. She is a fabulous artist who has a long music career ahead of her. I do feel like we will hear a lot of music from Lenore Pink going forward. Whilst the debut E.P. is promising and shows the incredible talent on show, I think there will be a series of albums. Of course, Evan Rachel Wood has a busy acting career, so maybe that will take priority. However, music is very much a deep love that she will continue to cultivate. A distinct and arresting songwriter and performer, I do hope that there are live shows coming this year. I do not know if she has U.K. dates at all in the diary, though I feel there would be a fanbase ready to embrace her. I am going to wrap up soon because, as I say, there is not a lot in terms of music-related interviews. Lenora Pink should be on your radar. In terms of my favourite song so far, perhaps Come Running. In terms of its effect and beauty. Go and follow Lenore Pink on social media and check out the eponymous E.P. Even though a lot of people will focus on the fact this is Evan Rachel Wood performing, she should be seen as an artist in her own right. Take everything else away and concentrate on the music. On the strength of what has been released so far, it is going to be a very bright career. You can feel how much music means to her. I feel there will be these big live dates, a lot of great interviews and even awards in her future. When you hear Lenora Pink, you realise that it…
IS all thoroughly deserved.
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Follow Lenore Pink
