Brittnie Price performs Runaway from KentWired on Vimeo. Video produced by Brian Smith.

Most Kent State students’ goals consist of passing a difficult class, improving their GPA, or conquering the challenges that the upcoming semester is going to throw at them.

Brittnie Price, however, isn’t any run-of-the-mill college student. On top of being a full-time senior theatre studies major, and having nightly rehearsals for the Kent State production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” Price is working tirelessly to promote her EP, “Everything We Are.”

Price’s first step in piecing together her album was finding a producer she wanted to work with.

“I knew next to nothing, and I really needed to start educating myself,” Price said as she sipped her hazelnut coffee.

She knew right away that she wanted to work in Cleveland to cut down travel and housing expenses. She also knew that she wanted to work toward this on her own, which is why she brushed off assistance from both her mother and her father when they told her about a music producer they knew.

Price ended up stumbling upon Jim Wirt, who runs Crushtone Studio in Cleveland. The connection between them was instant and serendipitous.

“It turns out, he was the same guy that my dad was talking about, and that my mom was talking about,” she laughed.

Price had the opportunity to work alongside Wirt on her album, not just as a musician, but as a producer as well.

With her EP available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, her next step is getting the word out about it.

For Price, the target is “The Ellen Degeneres Show.”

“Ellen Degeneres is my hero,” Price said, her face lighting up at the mention of the talk show host. “She always has a great flow to things, and she always has really great people on the show, and so many people watch her.”

Her idea for reaching out to Ellen is a simple one — she wants to send Ellen a care package full of letters from her own fans in an effort to get the word out.

“In an age of information you have to be super creative” says Price. “I’m just trying to get some support so that I can create something to send, because how many CD’s do people send in?”

Sophia Oluic, a friend of Price, suggested a different way to get Ellen’s attention.

“I think social media is the way,” says Oluic. “I don’t know if snail mail is the way to go, because people throw out letters left and right. Take some of her segments from YouTube and send them to Ellen.”

Price’s YouTube channel, which has more than 2,000 subscribers, contains not only songs from “Everything We Are”, but also covers and more original songs. They range from Beyonce, to Christina Perri, to Tori Kelly and Ed Sheeran. They are performed in a variety of places: dorm rooms, practice rooms and even coffee houses.

“Generally, I’m a pretty anxious person,” Price said. “[But] when I’m performing, I’m just very at ease and very happy.”

Price recalls one instance where she performed in a coffeehouse at Shaker Square in Cleveland.

“I was having the worst day ever, and I went and the coffeehouse was packed,” Price recalls, the smile on her face wide and her eyes bright. “It was a really great feeling, especially with a receptive group of people who are just there to support you and give you that energy back.”

Putting out her album has been a big step toward her dream, but there is still much more ground to cover. Taking advantage of word of mouth on such a large campus, Price is trying to get her album out there to continue down the path to success. She said it’s a way of helping herself.

“I’m really getting used to the idea of just relaxing and defining myself,” Price said. “Right now, it’s my truth. It’s the way that I sound, and I’m very proud of it.”

Contact Blythe Alspaugh at [email protected].