In this time of thanksgiving, singer-songwriter K.C. Clifford asks for greater empathy and understanding of contrasting viewpoints.
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Her new song “Salt,” premiering today on American Songwriter, centers on a piano’s gentle tug and her own journey in uncovering the core of humanity. “There’s always beauty to be found,” she sings.
A potent message of compassion is adorned with swelling strings. “May you choose tenderness / Instead of finding fault,” she croons. In collapsing outer shells, she is then able to pinpoint the common threads linking us all. “It’s hard to reconcile the idea that some of the people we love may never understand us, nor us them,” she said. “And yet, if I believe that we are all deserving of respect and kindness, and I do, it means that respect and kindness must also extend to those with whom I don’t see eye-to-eye.”
Hailing from Oklahoma City, Clifford clarifies her meaning. “For the record, kindness is not the same as niceness. We all have a story. Our stories inform so much more of our viewpoints than we even realize,” she explained. “I don’t think people in their last breaths look at their loved ones and wish they had agreed more on the issues. I think they wish they had loved more, forgiven more, (worried less about their weight), and offered more compassion.”
“Salt” is the lead single to Clifford’s upcoming self-titled album (and first in eight years), and in many ways, it’s as victorious a statement as it is a vulnerable one. The album (produced by Will B. Hunt) largely deals with “choosing to let go of the parts of myself that once saved me but no longer serve me. It’s deciding I no longer have to set myself on fire to keep everyone else warm. It’s my chance at redeeming the dream.”
The collection addresses loss, grief, social justice and inclusion – yet it is empathy that emerges as the driving force behind it all. “Empathy is going into someone else’s pain and sharing it with them so they feel safe, seen, known, heard, and valued. I have so few answers about solving our current crisis of connection,” she continued, “but I’m convinced that it must start one-on-one, person-to-person, human-to-human, heart-to-heart. And I believe the answer must be born of kindness and love and the understanding of how very much alike we are when you open us up and break it all down to the heart parts.”
Clifford’s new album, K.C. Clifford, arrives February 7, 2020.
Listen to “Salt” below.
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