Touring Point Park University in high school, Ava Presley remembers seeing a wall of records. The plaques of singles and EPs aren’t just decor, but originals from Pioneer Records, the university’s student-run record label.
“I’ve loved music my whole life,” Presley, now a sophomore at Point Park, said. “I loved listening to the radio, and I always thought it would be so cool to be able to do what those people do.”
Presley will soon see her own plaque added to the wall after winning the label’s 2025-2026 Pioneer Stars contest.
On Tuesday, Presley will perform her winning single, “Cheap Vodka,” at the 2026 Pioneer Star Showcase at the Club at Stage AE. While past Pioneer Stars have received professional studio time and a spring showcase, Presley’s win this year came with an extra perk: a music video filmed, directed and produced by a cast and crew of Point Park students.
The “Cheap Vodka” music video will premiere before Presley’s 20-minute set. Fellow 2026 Pioneer Stars Jordann Versaw and Brynn Elena will also perform, and one singer will be gifted a Gibson guitar.
Born in Baltimore, Presley, 19, remembers scribbling her first song about the alphabet in “cat scratch, tiny baby handwriting” on the back of a Sleeping Beauty sticker roll.
“I always thought it was so fun to sing and write,” she said.
Presley’s family moved to Catonsville, then Butler, when she was 8. She considers Butler to be her hometown.
“I grew up on country music. I grew up on Garth Brooks radio,” she said. “Living in Butler, that’s what you listen to because you’re in Pennsyltucky and Appalachia and whatever (else).”
While Presley describes her music as “sitting comfortably” in the country folk subgenre, her list of musical inspirations is broad, including rock like Alice in Chains, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day, along with Sublime and her favorite band, Cake.
Sabrina Carpenter, Lizzy McAlpine — a Philadelphia-born singer-songwriter known for her acoustic guitar playing — and Taylor Swift are also core influences.
“As a small-town Pennsylvania female artist, it’s amazing to see a woman from a very similar background to mine has been able to make it that far,” Presley said about Swift.
Considering herself a lyricist first, she also described Swift’s songwriting as “out of this world.”
“She’s able to use words in a song that I would never have thought to, (plus) her vocabulary and her metaphors,” Presley said.
Presley’s award-winning song “Cheap Vodka” began with her penning lyrics after a friend was navigating an on-again, off-again relationship last summer. At the same time, Presley was transitioning from playing piano to guitar.
“I was still in the trenches of learning the guitar, so I wrote the lyrics to some very basic chords,” she said. “And then, I went through my own guy problems, where it was a (similar) thing with someone who’s come and gone a lot.”
Presley didn’t want “Cheap Vodka” to be another “sad-girl anthem about a boy. So instead, we made a peppy, sad-girl anthem about a boy,” she laughed. “I love doing that with music, where I write it and it’s completely (tonally) different than what it’s talking about.”
The music video, directed by Point Park student Jacob Gaertner, was inspired by Lizzy McAlpine’s “Ceilings” video. Shot over three days at Spirit in Lawrenceville and at an Airbnb, the video blends “performance and narrative,” Presley said, moving between her playing guitar and scenes of a troubled relationship — all with Presley’s idea for a twist that the viewer doesn’t see the face of her co-star (Point Park senior Ayden Freed) face until the end.
“It gives a sense of vagueness and mystery,” she said. “This could really just be anyone. This could be anyone in your life.”
Presley said that beyond music industry experience, winning the Pioneer Stars contest has built her confidence.
“This has been more than just making music,” she said. “It’s been about facing my fears and about starting to trust and believe in myself. The biggest thing I’ve gained, more than a single or a music video or performance opportunities, is knowing people trust me.”
Tickets to the 2026 Pioneer Star Showcase are available online through AXS.