Album Diaries | You Have It

Song: “You Have It”

Album: Saturday Sunrise 2023

Written: Los Angeles 2020

Topic: You have what it takes within

Brave the weather

Far from home

You come untethered

Like a poem

Rise and fall

Pull and sway 

Not lost at all

Feel it beat so heavily

Tension and revelry

Holding space

You gotta breathe

I wrote this song initially in Los Angeles while living through the pandemic, but I was thinking back to when we lived in Montreal. I was experiencing serious postpartum depression in the middle of those 7 month Montreal winters-ehhh. I had intruding thoughts of ending it all. So hard to speak up about these things because you don’t want to be too heavy for anyone, but what I have found from my own experience of speaking up or wishing other people felt safe to speak up, is that it’s always always worth it. All people want is to be there for you. They feel honored you chose them to trust your heart with.

Digging low

Crawling slow

Motion spinning

Storms collide

Instincts alive

You have it in you

Alive and waiting

Hurricane swelling in your bones

Hear what you’re saying

While they throw all their diamond stones

Jump and bolt

Somewhere out there, no hat, no coat

Barefoot prints out in the snow

Naked and so vulnerable

Holding to hope

As the universe unfolds

There is a strong hopeful child inside of you who doesn’t want you to give up. There is always a way forward. Nothing lasts forever.

Some days it may seem freaking beyond possible, but hang on, that relief you’re seeking is just around the corner.

Keep breathing. Tell a trusted friend. Take a break just for you. Align your expectations. Allow yourself to let go. Keep breathing. One deep breath at a time. Ask the universe to help you. You are connected. You are capable. You have so much to look forward to. This will not last forever. You’re going to be okay. Another deep breath. You are going to be okay. You are going to be okay. You are going to be okay.

Standing there

In the falling snow

Head spinning

Storms inside

Your soul’s alive

You have it in you

Written by Rachel Adell and Craig Sayer

Produced by Craig Sayer

Album Diaries | Hold On

Song: “Hold On”

Album: Saturday Sunrise 2023

Written: Spanish Fork 2012

Topic: Looking for light during the darkest hours

The inspiration for this came during my separation from Stephen during our twelfth year of marriage. It was such a hard time, and I remember trembling each and every day for four months. Learning to state my needs, let alone stand up for them in a way that affected everyone around me, most especially my children, was an enormous part of me coming into my own. 

Over the last decade since I wrote this song, we have been though so many difficult things together. This is a song that I wrote during a hard moment without recognizing how many future moments it would get me through. I hope it gets you through some of yours. This song definitely fits the reoccurring theme throughout this album is that the storm will end and the sun will rise again. Hold on Rachel, relief is around the corner.

The tunnel is long, full of the unknown

There is no light, can’t find my way home

Crumbling I melt, losing all sense of self

So lost and blind, folding all inside my mind

I only see red, inside of my miserable head

I wanna be free, why’s it so out of reach

Hold on, Again

Glimmering light interrupts, 

I don’t wanna give up

Where’s that compass come from, 

Big mystery from above

Though I’m lost at night, 

Gonna keep lookin’ for light

Hold on 

Lookin’ for light

Hold on

Hold on

Lookin’ for light

Hold on 

Keep lookin’ for light

Written and performed by Rachel Adell

Produced by Craig Sayer