Casii Stephan sings with all the fervor of somebody who has gotten through to the other side of something and is dying to share her slice of hope with the world.
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On her newest release, “Here Comes the Light,” she pairs sweeping ballad instrumentation with her evocative yet controlled voice in order to create a track that is something more than just a mere cliche plea for hope, but a symbol of reclaiming power.
Stephan sings: It could be a long night / Followed by a dark morning / That keeps you away from the light / But you gotta let go / Even when your skin crawls so / These words will not define you / Here comes the light.
Her lyrics are a call to action, urging listeners to tap into their own reserve of self-worth and resilience and take the steps necessary to let the light back in. While the track feels so versatile in its layers of relatability, Stephan admits that it was something she needed to write for herself.
“I was realizing that there were words that I had adopted into my being that I shouldn’t have,” says Stephan. “They weren’t accurate. They were spoken off-hand. Various reasons I shouldn’t have accepted them into my life, but I did and I was slowly letting them go. And it was beginning to feel like a new day, so I wanted to capture that in a song.”
Despite writing this song for herself, unrelated to the happenings of the world, the prospect of starting anew is an idea which couldn’t be more applicable than it is today. She recorded the track alongside producer Justin Streck and vocalists Tea Rush, Rain Clark and Christina Wortham, right when the world needed it most.
“I really want people to feel uplifted. I want people to know that even though you get to the dawn or the next morning and it still feels dark, light will still come. Hope is still possible. Change can happen,” she explains.
“Here Comes the Light” has a message which is loud and clear: things can get better. And with her tight melodies, soulful vocals and honest songwriting, it’s not hard to sense the genuine light that Stephan projects on the horizon of all our lives, the light which we’re all entitled to feeling.
She hopes this song will help bring about genuine joy, like it does for her.
“I’m super critical, so I usually don’t smile when I hear my own music, but [‘Here Comes the Light’] makes me smile. I hope it makes others smile too.”
Check out “Here Comes the Light” below.
