Ingrid Andress Artistfacts

September 21, 1991
She's one of the more famous alums from The Sing-Off, an a cappella competition show that ran on NBC from 2009-2014 when vocal groups were all the rage. Andress competed in 2010 with a group called Pitch Slapped (certainly one of the best a cappella group names ever), and the next year with one called Delilah. The biggest artist to emerge from that show was Pentatonix, who competed in 2011.
Andress started out primarily as a songwriter, not a performer. She wrote her first song at 7 years old and began attending the Berklee College of Music after randomly walking past its campus and hearing music echoing outside.

She discussed the experience on the Off The Record podcast, saying, "I didn't think I was good at it until I took a poetry class at Berklee College of Music. I honestly didn't think I was a writer until then. And the poetry teacher was also the songwriting teacher and he was like, 'You should try the songwriting class.' And I was like, 'Okay, sure. I don't know what I want to do.'"

She graduated with a degree in Songwriting and Performance. Though she began recording and performing live more often, she still considers herself primarily a songwriter.
Andress went viral - not in a good way - when she sang the National Anthem at the July 2024 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. It was rough: She was off-key and looked slightly haggard.

"At that point in my life, I was on a concoction of different antidepressants, and I mixed that with drinking," she explained on Off The Record. "But to see all of that hate, I was more shocked than anything, and then obviously really embarrassed because I've worked super hard at songwriting and singing and for that to be the thing that people know me for, I was so ashamed. I stayed off social media and everything for a long time. I was just like, that's just not an accurate representation of who I am. I refuse to see myself that way."

Andress checked into rehab and vowed to never sing the Anthem again, but she broke that vow in 2025 when she sang it again before a Colorado Avalanche game. Her performance was much better. She posted a recording of it on her YouTube channel, captioning it "We're Back, Baby. Thank you @ColoradoAvalanche."
Her father Brad was a strength and conditioning coach for 19 years with Major League Baseball, working with the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Detroit Tigers.

Largely because of her father's career, Ingrid moved around a lot as a kid. This gave her a nomadic spirit that has never changed. Even with her success, she finds it difficult to root herself; she prefers constant motion and constant travel, living a lifestyle committed to personal growth and transformation through new experiences.
One of her first big successes was co-writing the 2017 Charli XCX song "Boys" with veteran songwriters Michael Pollack (other notable works include "Flowers"), Jerker Hansson ("Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time"), Ari Leff ("No Promises"), and Emily Warren ("Don't Let Me Down").

Andress covered the song on the deluxe edition of her 2020 album Lady Like; she replaced the video-game samples of the original with mandolin.
Andress was homeschooled in her early years. She didn't attend public school until moving to Highlands Ranch, Colorado, as a teen.
At 8 years old she cried to "Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley. It was the first time that she cried to music, and the experience caused her to fall in love with deep narrative songs that contain complete stories within them.
In middle school she played drums in a heavy metal band and practiced "emo-screaming" in her basement. She earned the privilege to bang on drums by mastering piano - her mother's requirement.
After her reality TV experience and college graduation, she was mentored by Kara DioGuardi, a highly acclaimed songwriter. One of her most notable creations was "Heartbeat Song" by Kelly Clarkson.
Though she's in the conservative country genre, she has shirked the sort of disposition traditionally expected from female country artists. She dresses in a tomboy aesthetic and talks openly about sex.
Andress' first job was scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. She got into trouble for secretly eating cookie dough chunks out of vanilla ice cream tubs.
As a kid, she was only allowed to listen to Christian or classical music. Her friends would secretly burn CDs of pop music for her, adding blank labels that she could put fake titles on.
Her debut album, Lady Like, was released in 2020 and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, an award that went to Megan Thee Stallion.

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