As a 14-year-old girl, Kailin Garrity penned her first song about love titled “The Little Things.”

Now the singer and songwriter explores topics other than love.

“In the beginning, I did love themes,” she said. “Now that I’ve been living in different cities, I write about political issues and other issues that are important to me.”

Garrity’s favorite new original song, “Good to Me,” is about karma and being good to others. She believes bad behavior towards others always comes back to people.

“It has a powerful message,” she said.

Garrity said her first record, A Family Holiday, came out about a year ago and she is currently working on her second one, Be Free. Garrity has also been playing guitar for about eight years.

She will perform at Eastern tonight before the Singer/Songwriter Contest.

“It’s important to build a fan base so people can see a part of what you are doing,” Garrity said. “These are the people who are going to be buying your records and I can talk to them after my shows and hang out for a while and get to know them as people rather than them seeing something about me on MySpace.”

Garrity gets most of the inspiration for her songs from watching movies, reading books and living life.

“I live in New York City and see a variety of things here, from homeless people on the streets to different artists on stage,” she said. “I really get inspired here and take little pieces from life.”

Garrity thinks life can pass people by if they do not have their eyes open to it.

She hopes to give aspiring songwriters at Eastern inspiration if they want to go on tour, make music and do the same thing that she is doing.

“It’s important for any aspiring new artist to stay who they are, believe in what they have and go out there and do it,” Garrity said. ? ?