‘Sounds Like Hope’ has been out for a week now. It’s always so strange putting a new song out into the world. It makes you feel so vulnerable. Or that’s how it makes me feel, at least. But it’s also exciting because these are songs I’ve been waiting to share for such a long time. So it’s a weird mish-mash of feelings.

I’ve just posted a new video to my YouTube channel, telling the story behind the inspiration and the writing of the song. I think I’ve talked about this before but, while this is primarily a mental health (and Autism, obviously) focussed blog, music is a big part of my life so I will always post about that too. Having said that, my music is heavily influenced by my experiences with my mental health so it links the two biggest parts of my life together, mental health and music. So it actually kind of makes sense to post about it here.

Of course every artist wants people to hear their music, the work they’ve poured their heart and soul into. So, yes, obviously I want people to listen to my songs. But it’s more nuanced than that; I would think it’s the same for every songwriter – we all just have our own, personal reasons. For me, I spent a lot of time feeling like there wasn’t any music I related to because of what I was struggling with. Why would I care about a love song when just surviving each day was a struggle? So a big part of writing music for me is writing music for people who have struggled like me, who might struggle with music the way I did (and sometimes still do). I don’t want to exclude anyone – we’re all so layered and complicated that I’m sure most people can relate to these songs in one way or another – but I specifically wanted to write music that people who have struggled with their mental health could relate to (I think I’ve actually gotten better at this since writing these songs but you’ll have to wait for the next project to hear those…). So of course I want people to hear my music but I really, really want people like me to hear my music.

If you haven’t listened to the song yet, you can buy or stream it here and the music video will be out very soon.