One of the inevitable things in life is aging. And while time doesn’t stop for anyone, it’s important to look backwards in order to move forward. With her new, delicate single, “18,” Hannah Anders does exactly that; expressing gratitude for her younger years, all the while, being proud of how she has grown.
Set for release tomorrow, we’re honored to premiere the song a day early!
Driven by only an acoustic guitar and dobro, Anders’ lyrics jump to the forefront as she delivers a passionate, empowered vocal.
“After sitting with my producer and reviewing the giant handful of songs I had written for an upcoming project, he looked at me and said, ‘I feel like we’re missing one more. One more that’s YOU, that’s personal, that’s your story.’ So I set off to continue writing and set up a co-write with Nashville writer Kris Bergsnes,” says Anders. “As we sat and talked about lyrical ideas we both had in our journals and stories of our lives, he shared a possible idea with me as a starting point for our yet to be written song. I can’t even tell you now what it was, but it just felt like a song idea for a younger girl, someone who hadn’t experienced as many of the hits and victories of life yet. It felt like it belonged to a girl I hadn’t been in a long time. So I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, ‘I don’t know, it feels like an idea for someone else. I’m not 18 anymore.’ He paused and looked at me and said, ‘That’s it. That’s your song. That’s what you need to write.”
With her direction now clear, Anders says she was able to get the song to the finish line.
“I left the session, marinating on what that meant to me: what it meant to be past the innocence of unending youth; how relieved I was to be past it honestly. How much I had learned. How many disappointments and victories I had experienced. How grateful I was to be in a place where I was unapologetically who I am. The lyrics started to come. It was truly the most honest song I had written in a long time. I had written so many of my other songs at this time with fellow writer Kris Bradley, and so I pulled her in at the end as another set of eyes and ears; another woman who had plowed her way through this industry, and we put the finishing touches on it. What came out of this time in my life is a song that comes from my soul, and I’ve been waiting to share until the right moment. And the right moment is now,” says Anders. “I’ve had the privilege of singing this song both at home-based shows and halfway around the world on tour, crying with people in the room as we all feel our way through what it means to not be ’18 anymore,’ and I am beyond excited to share this piece of my soul now with everyone. Whether you’re 25 or 95, I think you can find yourself here, in the lyrics, in the feeling, in the meaning. We can all use a place to celebrate what it means to conquer the ups and downs and life, and come out the other side proud of who we are and where we are. There is a lot of ageism and struggle as an ‘older person’ in any industry, and I want to remind every woman or person chasing their dreams that it is always the right time to have passion, and it is never too late for that.”
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