Behind every song lies a story, and the story of the song “Pink” might be one of the most inspiring of this crappy, contentious, calamity of a year.
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It’s a story of what a band of strong women are capable of creating – five women blessed with incredible voices, three women blessed with the ability to write incredible words and one woman with a secret she held on for far too long.
And yes, it’s the story of how these women came together to create one of 2020’s most empowering anthems.
The song is called “Pink,” a song written by women and sung by women and produced by women, a song whose true importance might not even be fully realized for years to come.
And the story goes a little like this.
Acclaimed songwriters Victoria Shaw and Jodi Marr booked a write with Erin Kinsey, an up and coming artist prepping to set the country music industry on fire sometime very soon. But at the time of the writing of “Pink,” she was just an eighteen-year-old essentially losing her mind that she was in a room with two songwriting legends.
“It was the absolute craziest thing,” remembers Kinsey during a recent interview with American Songwriter. “I couldn’t get over the fact I was there in that moment with them.”
Making the moment even more surreal was the news that Kinsey was trying her best to keep to herself. It was the somewhat heavy news that her manager, Amy Fish, had just told her that she had actually been battling breast cancer secretly over the course of the past year.
“She has always been like a second mother to me, so it was very shocking,” Kinsey says of her longtime supporter. “I instantly felt this sadness that I had not been able to be there for her. I wished she would have told me sooner.”
Despite this, Kinsey confidently walked into Shaw’s home, without any intention of sharing the delicate news. Small talk began and stories were exchanged and as women do, they soon found a power within their shared experiences.
“There wasn’t an ego to be found in that room,” recalls Marr.
Shaw was the first to bring up what would soon provide the lyrical backbone to “Pink,” recalling a public service announcement that she had seen on television that had her wondering out loud if and when the color pink would be just another color rather than the color associated with breast cancer.
And then, the three women walked in the kitchen to get a snack.
“That’s when I told them what I had found out about Amy,” Kinsey recalls.
“She didn’t want to burden anyone,” remembers Shaw. “We were stunned.”
But with the shock of the unsettling news came a burst in creativity for the three songwriters. And within a few hours, “Pink” was created.
“It’s not a country song…it’s an everything song,” says Shaw, whose snagged her first major hit as a songwriter back in 1992 with Garth Brooks’ number one hit “The River.” “Throughout the entire song there is imagery that we were pulling from our own experiences.”
Later that day, the three had a complete song that they would eventually play for Fish herself. And then, three songwriters and one breast cancer survivor came together and cried and walked out the door.
“The song would haunt me in the back of my mind every single day that passed,” said Shaw. “As a songwriter, you rarely have no clue how important a song just might turn out to be.”
“I don’t think any of us knew what we truly had,” adds Kinsey, who made her Grand Ole Opry debut last month singing the song alongside cancer survivor, actress and budding country music artist Rita Wilson. “All three of us had been touched by breast cancer in some way, and hopefulness has always been the biggest thing. We wrote with hope and light in our hearts even though we have all known people whose battles were awful and scary.
The only thing we knew how to do is lead with encouragement and hope. And that song did that.”
“Beyond the writing room, there is always that question of ‘where should this song live?’ Marr adds. “The song wanted to not only be born, but the song wanted to live.”
And while the song was written just over two years ago, it took just 8 weeks for its true mission to come to fruition as the song ended up being recorded earlier this year by legendary artists such as Dolly Parton, Monica, Jordin Sparks, Rita Wilson and Sara Evans and is now serving as an anthem for Susan G. Komen.
“Every songwriter dreams of writing something like this,” gushes Marr of the song whose music video has now been viewed by more than a half million people. “Songwriting is a calling. It really is a job of service if you do it right. There was no doubt that this song would serve as an inspiration for some and a light at the end of the tunnel for many. I’m looking forward to watching this song make a difference.”
