Hey Friends,
We are Earth will be out in two days worldwide! However, today, I want to share the first track with you. It is called Grateful. You can listen to it here:
https://on.soundcloud.com/jPEZmHZSkjBf9xg56
Here is the story behind this song. I remember doing the first demo for this back in 2019. This chorus idea became stuck in my head. "so I'm grateful, yes I'm grateful." In 2020, I met with my new songwriting friend, Toni LaShaun. We wrote several gospel songs together and started toying around with this song. We would write lyrics to the track but could never settle on anything. So we tabled it and worked on some other songs.
The other writer of the song is my friend Samantha Clark. We met online in 2020 ( this will be a recurring theme as the pandemic allowed me to join songwriting groups). In 2021, I went to the writing worship conference in Nashville. While there, I met Toni and Samantha in person, and we wrote a separate song. We had such a great and holy time that we promised to write again.
As I worked on this project, I thought Grateful would be a powerful addition to this album. In 2022, we gathered on Zoom and finished the song together! It was a fun write, and we worked hard to write a song that was accessible, spoke to our differing theologies, and was deeply spiritual. I remember the conversation about identity. What does identity in Christ mean? That was something we had to work through. I loved it. However, I do remember still trying to figure out the bridge. Surprisingly, watching Harry Styles at the Grammies in 2023 may have saved this song! There was something about the way he did the bridge to one of his songs that captured me. And like a switch, I knew exactly what to do for the bridge.
That is how the song came to be. I invited my two colleagues from the wedding band days to sing on this song, and wow, did they deliver! I think Sean Roberts and Camille Marché are some of the best vocalists in the world. Songs have a life of their own. Sometimes, they need a little nudge, and other times, they need a lot of patience. But songs that are meant to flourish will do so. I am grateful that this was one of them.