- April 25, 2024
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When Polo Club 17-year-old Kaitlyn Hornung was 5, she remembered sneaking out of bed at night at her Hamilton, Ohio home and going to a second-floor balcony that overlooked a room where her father, Tim Hornung, would play the family’s grand piano.
He would be pounding out some of his favorite rock songs by artists such as Styx and Journey, and he never knew his daughter was watching from above. Kaitlyn loved those moments.
"The sound of a grand piano is the best," she said. "He was a big inspiration to me."
Taking piano lessons since she was 5, Kaitlyn realized at a young age that music was her passion. However, instead of going down the rock and roll road when she became a teen, she began listening to country and pop singer Kelsea Ballerini.
It wasn't just the tunes Ballerini sent to the top of the charts, or her voice. Kaitlyn loved Ballerini's words, and her message.
In November 2017, Ballerini released her second album, "Unapologetically." Kaitlyn couldn't get enough.
"The biggest part for me was learning how she writes all her own music," Kaitlyn said. "She has a personal and vulnerable connection with her audience."
She was awed by Ballerini's courage to expose her intimate thoughts.
"Teen-age girls are concerned with body image, with friends, with social status," said Kaitlyn, who is 17. "It's important to stay true to yourself, and not just write about what would validate you to other people."
Soon after the release of Ballerini's second album, Kaitlyn was with her parents, Tim and Michelle, and sisters, Alexa (now 15) and Hanna (now 13), in one hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale. It was the night before they were about to go on a cruise.
Kaitlyn went over to the corner of the room, and sat down ... the best she could manage at the time for peace and quiet.
"I hid in the corner," she said. "And I kept writing. The first one was a very typical country love song. At 13, I didn't have any experience from anything.
Experience or not, she kept writing. While her family enjoyed the ship, she wrote. On the ride home to the Polo Club in Lakewood Ranch, she wrote. She estimates she finished about a dozen songs in all.
Now a junior at The Out-of-Door Academy in Lakewood Ranch, she estimates she has written about 200 songs. And she has experienced a little more in life to give her ammunition.
"I have gone through a breakup," she said. "That's one of the most vulnerable things."
Now she has decided to share her music with the release of her first single, "Why," which you can hear at KaitlynHornung.com. It came out May 14.
One of her instructors at Music Compound, which she joined two years ago, was Astara Summers. Summers challenged her to consider what would happen if she sent her music "out to the world."
"I tend to be a shy person.," Kaitlyn said. "I like to stay in the back. I didn't write this song to blow it up. I wanted to share it."
Jenny Townsend, the owner of Music Compound, said Kaitlyn is ready.
"She was very shy and quiet when she came here two years ago," Townsend said. "I can't believe her growth and confidence."
Townsend said Music Compound strives to help people transform their vision by providing instructors and coaches who covered all aspects of music.
"I tell people we are like a music matchmaker," Townsend said.
Kaitlyn isn't quite sure what she wants to accomplish in a possible music career, but she hopes to find out more at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee if she is accepted.
In getting "Why" ready for public consumption at her home studio, she has worked with fellow ODA student Ryan Newhams, who has taught her about music production and mixing.
"There is so much I don't know (about music production) and Ryan is so good at it," she said.
So whether she goes into songwriting, production or even singing, Kaitlyn is ready to explore. Don't expect her to stop writing songs, though.
"I lay awake at night, thinking about things that are bothering me," she said. "As a songwriter, you don't have to hide."
