Ella Travolta talks to Papa John about her musical upbringing
Image Credit: Getty / Cindy Ord
Put simply, music is in Ella Travolta’s blood. “It’s always been a big part of my life,” she tells POPSUGAR. “I grew up with music.”
Of course, the 22-year-old didn’t just grow up listening to music — she was raised by the star of one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. Her father, John Travolta, famously starred in Grease opposite the late Olivia Newton-John, whom he recently paid tribute to at the 2023 Oscars. Ella recalls spending a lot of time growing up connecting with her father and late mother, Kelly Preston, through music. “He always sang a lot or just improvised songs and dances,” says Ella about her father. “The same goes for my mother. That’s always been a big part of my life – playing music and he sings along and I sing with him. It was definitely a big inspiration.”
Now Ella is following in her father’s footsteps and preparing to release her first EP entitled The Colors of Love. “It was definitely a learning experience and a long time coming,” she says. “I’ve learned so much. I did it label-free just to see how it works and really get into it. It was a lot of fun.” Each track on the six-song EP is based on a color, she says, and each paints a portrait of a different kind of love. “Each song is really a different take and a different angle on the subject, whether it’s a relationship with a partner or a family member or a friend or unrequited love,” she explains.
She not only inherited her father’s love of music, but also her mother, who passed away from breast cancer in July 2020. Ella is taking part in Silk Nextmilk’s next-gen campaign, which puts a modern twist on the iconic ’90s “Got Milk” campaign — which Preston was involved in himself. “It’s absolutely amazing. To see that she did back then — it’s just so beautiful,” says Ella. “You put such a cool twist on it. In my generation, so many more people are choosing and using plant-based products, and it was great to be a part to be of it and to represent the herbal “Stache.”
Image source: Silk
Between her music and modeling ventures, Ella is busy, but she always manages to stay close to her family. In February, Ella accompanied her father to Las Vegas for his 69th birthday. “The trip was incredible. It was a dream of his to recreate that old Vegas TWA poster,” she laughs, referring to a Las Vegas-themed Trans World Airlines poster her father loved as a child. “He definitely made it happen. It was wonderful.”
From her early days performing impromptu musical theater shows for her family, weathering tragedy and launching her professional music career, her father has remained a constant in Ella’s life. “It’s amazing,” she says of their relationship. “He’s my best friend and my biggest fan and I’m definitely his. Having that support is just really important and I’m so happy to have it from him.”
Watch Ella below perform a snippet of her first single “Dizzy” – complete with a brief cameo of her dad.
