When Carlee “Lee” Reid (W ‘25)—also known by her stage name carLEEE—came to Penn as a freshman in August 2021, she had never sung in front of an audience before. Though she had a liking for music and songwriting since she was a kid, music was nothing more than a hobby, a distant aspiration. Four years later, after releasing her debut single “chew” alongside a self–produced music video, Lee can hardly believe that her love of music was once confined within her bedroom walls. The singer’s college years have been a whirlwind of musical talent, passion, and discovery, establishing herself as an involved musician within the Penn community. But how did she get here?
Let’s start from the beginning—before Penn was in the picture. Born to Jamaican immigrant parents in Stamford, Connecticut, Lee has always been a musician at heart.
“Neither of my parents are musicians, but my mom and my grandpa (her father) loved music,” she shares. “So I was always exposed to music, listening to music, and really dissecting the lyrics.”
According to Lee, her Jamaican heritage plays a major role in developing her creativity, musical and otherwise, from a young age.
“I think being Jamaican and growing up with such a musical icon like Bob Marley playing in my house, you listen to his lyricism [and] the rhythms that he creates,” Lee says. “I've always had this instinct to be drawn to creative things that I think I have been formalizing more and more as I've gotten older.”
Her passion for music began very informally: She never joined her school choir, took music lessons, or took part in any other formalized music groups before college. Instead, she channeled her talents elsewhere.
“I was a competitive gymnast for 12 years, and there wasn't time to have those opportunities,” Lee explains. “But I also think having immigrant parents, like my mom—she'd let me sing and do whatever [at home]—but she wasn't aware of what opportunities would kind of manifest out of a passion like that.”
Instead, Lee relegated herself to writing songs in her bedroom. She loved to sing and had a keen ear for music from a very young age, but for a long time she had nowhere to channel this interest and innate talent. It wasn’t until her freshman fall that Lee first sang in front of an audience (following several nervous phone calls to mom) in the Penn Counterparts audition room.
“That was scary for me, to be in a formal [audition] experience, but it's been such a blessing,” Lee says. “And, I think, after building up all those years of musical intuition, individualized practice, it [was] reinforced by an actual structure of music.”
Joining Counterparts—Penn’s first co–ed a cappella group and the musical alma mater of John Legend (C ‘99)—was a total game changer for Lee. She found not only an outlet for her love of singing and music, but an opportunity to develop her songwriting and arranging skills alongside a supportive community as well. Describing the environment as “musically empowering,” Lee was inspired to begin arranging pieces and writing original songs with the group. The experience helped her build confidence and deepen her understanding of her identity as a musician.
Equally inspiring were the Counterparts students and alumni who have gone on to release their own music, including alum electropop sensation INJI (W ‘23) and student singer–songwriter Olivia Goldfinger (C ‘27). For Lee, her musical journey is inherently tied to her peers and her community. And eventually, with devoted support, everything fell into place for Lee to take after her peers and record her first song: “chew.”
Following an electric “jam session” with close friend Bella Werneck (C ‘25) and friend–of–a–friend Crosby Collins (E ‘27), Bella encouraged Lee to take her music to the next level: “She was like, ‘You should record this. Let's do this kind of thing.’ And I think her encouragement was just such an empowering force.”
Bella’s words of encouragement weren’t an empty promise. As one of the founding members of “215 Records,” a student group at Penn for students interested in recording and producing music, Bella helped Lee record her debut single in collaboration with the label.
According to Lee, Bella played “a huge role in planning out all of the recording sessions and keeping things on track.”
“chew” was recorded in the Gabe Donnay Recording Studio in the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, and it was released on major streaming platforms on Feb. 14, 2025. The track is laced with biting lyricism, an ever–present crescendo, and Lee’s earth–shattering vocals (I’m not kidding—“voice of an angel” takes on a whole new meaning).
The singer’s music video—released concurrently with the single—depicts a violent argument between two lovers at a dinner table. The scene is displayed through a rose–colored (or perhaps more accurately, blood–red) lens. As a senior in Wharton studying Entertainment and Media Management—an individualized concentration—with a minor in Cinema and Media Studies, Lee hopes to one day pursue a career in film production and writing. She feels that this music video is a culmination of her academic, extracurricular, and career pursuits.
“I treated this entire project as a capstone of my own,” Lee adds. “My peers in CIMS (Cinema and Media Studies) are doing their [capstone projects], so I was like, ‘I need something that's going to bridge my two interests.’ I did a crowdfunding—a whole marketing thing that I had planned out, and I wrote the story.”
The process of creating this video, like the recording of “chew,” was deeply collaborative.
“I asked my two friends, Dina Zhanybekova (C ‘25) and Sean Park (C ‘25)—she directed it, and Sean Park shot it—and I was playing the producer role,” Lee shares. “Tina Zhang (W ‘25) did set design and unit photography, and Sarahbelle Kim (C ‘25) also did unit photography. My friend Yared Zegeye (C, W ‘25) starred in it, and I edited it. I was friends with them all before, and it was a bunch of us coming together [for] a one–day shoot. It was the most natural and fun shoot I've ever had.”
Every step of Lee’s creative process, from writing to recording to filming, was rooted in friendship and community. She maintains that she wouldn’t have been able to so fully engage with her artistic passions without the support of talent of the community around her, and hopes that all those who listen recognize the power of such support.
“The world is your oyster, and you can do whatever you so choose. See that your peers are doing things that might interest you or might inspire you to really dive deep and see what this place has to offer.”
