The story of Hindsight

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Hindsight is a song that sums up the album “Hindsight’ in it’s entirety. I began writing it when I was 13, long before the idea of writing an album had ever crossed my mind, and a short while before I started teaching myself guitar. I started the journey in COVID when so many of us were struggling. The teenage struggle was, and still is, so prominent because of the isolation we faced in a time of growth for us young people.

I had the idea for the album hindsight long before the song existed. I had a Pinterest board with hundreds of pictures on it, seperate sections for songs (some that didn’t even make it onto the album), and a dream of an album about healing and new perspectives. Then, one day, while zoning out of a zoom school class and strumming my guitar, I started singing the verse melody for Hindsight. It all came quite naturally from there, and without meaning to, I wrote the title track for my debut album.

This track is not only special because it is the title track, but because it is the only track on the album that has another credited musician besides my producer Chris Wilson, and myself. Chris Rourke, a very talented bass player and family friend, made this track so special. with the bass part better than I ever imagined in my head. I always dance along a little bit when the bass kicks in, and I always think back to watching Rourke recording the bass in the studio. Seeing another musician recording on my track was amazing, and I am so honoured that he wanted to be on this song.

A fair way into the album recording process, I still didn’t know if I wanted this track to be a single or not. The actual releases of singles was very chaotic in the sense that it wasn’t all planned prior to recording the album, and I sort of just released songs once they were finished. I decided one day as we neared the album release that I wanted to release Hindsight as a surprise single, only 24 hours before the album and without much warning at all. It was so fun to feel a little sneaky and give everyone a final surprise before the album, and the song gained hundreds of streams in the 24 hours it was released which just blew me away.

This song, this album, it is all about perspective. I wrote it from the perspective of looking into the past, a few years older, a little bit wiser, and on the way to fully healing. I hope this song, and the album, can be there for someone else as they are healing, because music was there for me throughout it all. I am grateful that I have been able to share this part of my life, and the art I’ve created from it, with people who will hopefully understand. Thank you.

Kaiyah Mercedes