Nashville-based artist Sadie Campbell is learning to trust the path, even when it takes her around unknown twists and turns. Like any journey, her first full-length album, Metamorphosis (Oct. 25), has a little bit of everything. Through 11 tracks, she juxtaposes heart-wrenching songs about anxiety, loss and life's questions with songs of love and confidence.
Released on Friday, “Saved,” is a deeply personal excerpt from the album, written about religious deconstruction. Though Campbell found her voice in a church choir, she no longer finds the Christian church's doctrine fits around what she has to say.
“Not only do I have this need to people please, many years of my life were spent in the church as a 'good Christian' girl that didn't ask questions or speak up," Campbell says, adding a lighthearted quip about how her Canadian heritage bends toward not wanting to offend. ”I am scared to open this can of worms, so to speak, but I chose to put this song on the record for the people out there that also have questioned their faith, questioned the church, been wronged by the church, had to reprogram their minds and hearts after leaving. It's for them. For us."
Steering her way from humble beginnings in a small-town Canadian choir, Campbell made her way to Brooklyn, New York, before settling down in Nashville, Tennessee. In Music City's famed honky-tonks, she worked to support herself and solidify her style as an artist. Campbell has come a long way since; an exciting publishing deal with Park Avenue West marks the latest stop on her musical journey, along with the album.
Metamorphosis describes her experience crossing through a dark spell she documented with producers Stuart Cameron and Peter Fusco on her 2021 EP The Darkroom. For Metamorphosis, the trio finally met in-person for the first time to collaborate at the Bath House in Ontario, Canada. The record they made spans a variety of genres including rock, soul, country, pop and alternative, while exploring a similarly diverse range of emotions.
“I saw a quote when starting to write this album that it said, 'The thing you are most scared to write about, write that,'” Campbell says. “There are songs about sadness, loneliness, anxiety, my experience leaving the Christian church and questioning my faith, starting over in my 30s, people pleasing and family dynamics and the beauty of growing older.”
The album begins with “What Love Can Do,” a sweet meditation on the power of earth-shaking connection that seldom happens, the kind that changes everything. “Keeping Space” introduces the idea of setting aside room for what matters to exist in a life once it appears, whether love or other aspirations.
“Anxiety Gets Me” centers around a songwriting session that quickly turned into therapy about life, overworking and the feeling of always living on a hamster wheel. Meanwhile, “Put Your Worry Down” is a reminder to breathe, and dance it all out when possible.
“Getting Older” speaks to the discrimination and judgment women face in the music business and everyday life. Campbell hopes that lines like “So count the rings on the trees / And count the wrinkles on me / I'm so damn proud to be / Getting older” inspires people to love themselves where they're at.
“It'll crack you to the core, when you know you're meant for more / Like a bell that's ringing louder all the time,” she sings on the title track. It's an allusion to the all-too-true fact that transformation is never easy, and unhappiness will only grow like the sound of a bell reverberating inside.
“Leave It All Behind” closes the album with a reminder that life is a lesson that requires constant learning and relearning. There is power in letting go of old energies, relationships, and even the old you.
“It's about growth, really,” she says of the album overall. “To me, metamorphosis means transformation, and this record is an expression of all the things I've grown through in my life thus far.”
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