Comfortably seated in an armchair near a window, she delicately sips her Starbucks coffee. Armed with a black Jansport backpack, the blue-eyed strawberry-blonde simply blends in.

Sophomore film major Kelsey Wild is an emerging singer and songwriter, balancing her passion and academics at Northwestern. To date, she has released two EPs on iTunes and played gigs at Chicago’s House of Blues, Congress Theater and South by Southwest 2010.

“I just like to do my best at whatever I’m doing and not feel totally divided,” Wild says with a soft-spoken voice. “During the school year, I revert back to ‘school-mode’ and academics are my focus. I do spend time on music – if I didn’t do it, I’d probably go crazy – but it’s something I hope to fully pursue when I graduate.”

Wild toys with her Goldilocks curls, clad in a grey cardigan thrown over a Neil Diamond tee. Citing Cat Power, Nina Nastasia and Regina Spektor as musical inspirations, she talks about songwriting and fitting music into her Northwestern schedule.

“There’s definitely a discipline in songwriting,” Wild says. “You need to sit down every day if you can and try to write something. It allows you to come up with ideas, hone the skills. There are days when you have good ideas and you don’t know where they come from; other days, everything is terrible.”

One of Wild’s newer releases, “Wishing Well,” was just inspired, she says, categorizing it as one of her favorite songs.

“I wrote it in 20 minutes in the middle of the night,” Wild explains. “That doesn’t happen often… I remember feeling really overwhelmed… until I wrote that song and I felt much better, it was an emotional release.”

Once classes are over, Wild swaps her Jansport for an 80-pound keyboard, fully equipped with weighted keys. She jokes she’s working to pick up guitar, because lugging a heavy keyboard around – even with a case on wheels – is difficult.

“It takes up my entire van,” she says. “I usually bring my own keyboard, unless the venue I’m playing at has a piano.”