In a World That Needs Something to Dance to, Sarah Reeves Delivers “Paradise”

As the clock struck twelve on what would become the grueling year of 2020, singer/songwriter Sarah Reeves did what she does every New Year’s Eve.

She asked God for a word.

Indeed, every year, she prays to God and asks for just one word that she can focus on, one word that would center her, one word that she could grasp onto in case everything started to fall apart.

This year, that word was ‘trust.’

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘well, that word seems so simple,” Reeves recalls in a recent interview with American Songwriter. “I had no idea how much I would need that word. I mean, right now, in the thick of the pandemic and everything closing down and our shows getting cancelled and feeling the weight of the world…”

Her voice trails away, not allowing for the statement to find its sad completion.

But yes, ‘trust’ is a word the Alabama native has mumbled to herself many times throughout this pandemic. It’s also been a word that essentially gave Reeves the courage to make the virtual leap from Christian artist with the deep worship roots to an artist with a bit more of a pop edge. And yes, that pop-infused edge can be heard within every note of her new single “Paradise.”

“We were reaching the end of the writing process for the new album, but we felt like we needed a few more,” recalls Reeves regarding a December 2019 writing retreat that ultimately gave birth to her new upbeat single, which she co-wrote in a span of three hours alongside Ian Keaggy and Vanessa Campagna. “Basically, just the hopeless romantics were left. (Laughs.) We really felt like we had one more in us, so we each got a glass of wine and started talking about life and I said the word ‘Paradise.’ And that was it. We knew we had something.”

But that something evolved into something even more months later as the pandemic began its cruel hold on the country and suddenly, everyone started hunkering down.

“Now I look it as kind of a quarantine song, about turning your home into your paradise,” explains Reeves, who has been supplying her fan base with a steady stream of songs as of late, including tracks such as “Anxious,” “Don’t Feel Like Fighting” and “Heart First.” “I’ve been married nine years and all of a sudden our date nights consisted of ordering takeout.”

But she didn’t mind it.

And she still doesn’t.

“To be honest, spending time at home has been nice,” she says quietly. “I think it has been a blessing in disguise. It’s been a chill year. It gave us a chance to kind of zoom out and look at life and figure out what we were doing too much of and what we should have been focusing in on.”

When it comes right down to it, Reeves says she just hopes “Paradise” makes people smile, makes people feel good and helps people feel a little bit happier during this uncertain time.

Because she knows first hand what being unhappy feels like.

“There is nothing special about me,” says Reeves, who has battled panic attacks during portions of her life. “I write songs and I sing songs and I release albums and I’m just like anyone else. If I can go through stuff and can put words to what I am feeling which then gives my fans words to their feelings…that makes me happy.”

It’s those words and those songs that will now be found on Reeves next studio album set for release later this year and an album that she says is her most personal and vulnerable album yet.

“All of the songs tell a part of my story in the last decade,” she explains. “Each song basically features a different part of me and what I’ve been through, in the hopes that no matter what people are going through, they can relate to it, whether that’s love or hardship.”

So, what do you do when the hardship takes hold?

“At the end of the day, I just close my eyes and say ‘ok God, I trust you,” she says quietly. “I don’t know what’s going on or what you are doing, but I know that there is victory on the other side. In the midst of this, I trust that you are doing something good.”

Trust.

It’s that simple.