So Fridays are usually reserved for a review of a new single, but this week there's a cut that I co-wrote, so I don't think it would be right to give myself a glowing review and a pat on the back. Instead, I wanted to take this time to reflect back on the process and give some insights.
I met Cay Aliese through Nate Perry. Nate was the first friend I had here in Nashville, and he also happened to have been mentored by the late, great Nolan Neal. So when Nolan's daughter, Cay, decided she was going to pursue music full time, Nate was insistent that she try a write with me. I tapped up my partner in crime, Michael McFarland, to Zoom in from Cleveland and showed up having never spoken to Cay before.
On the day of the write, Cay showed up looking drained. I didn't know it at the time, but she was balancing raising two kids, American Idol promo, and moving her family to Nashville full time. I sat down and started throwing out titles from the hook sheet, and nothing was really working until I said "Human For A Minute". At that moment it was like someone had lit a fire inside of Cay. She started writing furiously. Once she started going the whole thing was done in 45 minutes. I was flabbergasted at the end when she told me this was her first co-write outside of songs she'd done with her Dad. She took to it like she'd been co-writing for decades.
I love the song top to bottom, but I'll admit that my favorite part is an idea that I was just a passenger for. When Cay started talking about how the human experience was all about embracing the beauty of being a little cracked from the wear of life, Michael brought up the Japanese art of kintsugi. "Filling all that's broken with gold" is a line I wish I could claim as my own, but I'm proud to say I was there to see it happen. I think it's such a gorgeous metaphor, and it's actually changed my perspective in life a bit.
I want to thank Cay, Nate, and Michael for letting me be part of this special song, and I hope that it can spark some joy and energy in anyone that listens. Sometimes we can lose touch with how beautiful it is to experience life in all of its highs and lows. Sometimes it's important to take time and feel "Human For A Minute".
