Sarah Faith, a Michigan-raised, Nashville-based (Dickson, Tenn.) singer-songwriter, is dropping her debut single, Before You, to the music world. Having relocated to Middle Tennessee mid-2019, Sarah brought with her a past filled with family addiction and abuse as well as battles with anxiety and depression. With optimistic intentions of creating a bright future, Before You provides a powerful, upbeat head start, giving listeners a taste of the vulnerability and authenticity to come.
Growing up with a single mother who struggled with addiction, Sarah Faith was exposed to mental and physical abuse at a very young age. As a result, she developed mental health issues of her own, but always found a way to fight and make the best of her circumstances. “My music is infused with my story and where I come from. My goal is to prove that it doesn’t matter how crazy your family is or how dark your past is – you can overcome it and use all of those things for good outcomes.” Sarah describes her musical style as a genre-bending mix that draws inspiration from a diverse musical background including classic rock, alternative, and Americana. Vocally, she is inspired by the likes of Jennifer Nettles, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, and Grace Potter.
Before You released on all major music purchasing and streaming platforms on May 29, 2020.
About the Song
Why did you write this song? Where did it come from?
This song is very personal to me. It’s written about the dark outlook we sometimes get on relationships before meeting our “person.” It’s actually a very true story, even though I’m not sure we intended for it to be from the very start of writing it. Personally, I had all but given up on the concept of a successful relationship, much less marriage, and this song talks about that a little bit. I had a grim outlook on the world, and I honestly thought I’d be better off alone than continuing the fruitless search for a worthwhile partner in crime.
Originally, when we sat down to write this tune, we were thinking of a fun Friday happy jam, and I think we still came away with that, but it ended up being really infused with my story. Maybe that’s why I love it so much – it’s fun and catchy, but still really personal for me and uses my story as part of the overall message.
What does this song mean to you? What do you want listeners to take away from this song?
This song makes me smile every time I play it. It’s really the beginning of my “happy” with my husband – he really did randomly walk up to me in a bar with those pretty blue eyes and change my plans. I know it sounds crazy, but it was definitely the epitome of “when you’re not looking” and “when you least expect it.”
I guess I’d like to just give people hope that those two cliches actually are true – or they can be. I was in no way looking for a relationship, but out of the blue, my person came along just when I felt all hope was lost.
How would you describe the sound of the song to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
As an artist, I truly believe in blurring the lines between genres as much as I can get away with. I grew up on a sort of weird mix of classic rock, 90s alternative, country, and pop music, plus I was involved in choral music so there’s a good bit of classical influence mixed in as well. Sonically for this single, my vision was lots of guitar and lots of drums. I’m super inspired by The Lumineers and Grace Potter, among a bunch of others, so I really wanted to pull some roots, Americana, and vintage sounds out of this tune. I think overall, that’s where I feel I fit in as an artist – mixing a bunch of things together that feel good and hopefully sound good too!