Singled Out: Rachael Sage's Live It Up
(Day in Pop) Rachael Sage & The Sequins just released their new single "Live It Up" from her forthcoming "Canopy" album and to celebrate we asked Rachael to tell us about the new song. Here is the story:
"Live It Up" is my favorite track on our forthcoming Rachael Sage & The Sequins album Canopy because it feels like the most distilled, positive representation of our live sound - and also the truest reflection of who I am as a writer and who we are as a band. The title is deceptively simple in the sense that it suggests I'm going to be singing about partying or throwing away worry but really the song is a hard-reset emotionally, in response to so many challenging and overwhelming things going on in the world that compete daily for our attention, our energy, our concern, and our empathy... sometimes to the point of paralysis. As someone who is equally an empath and an idealist, yet who also wants to very much live in - and create art about - the real world, I wanted to approach this idea of balancing self-care and the celebration of the miracle of life, or survival if you want to think of it that way, with advocacy and caring for one another in very substantive ways that don't harm ourselves or tear down others in the process.
Since Covid lockdown, we have all had our individual and collective "guards" up and have struggled to find and magnify peace in every realm. One of the things I appreciate and revere so much about music is that it can heal, protect, and on a good day, perhaps even change a heart or a mind. This being the poppiest sounding track on our record - replete with a horn section, Hammond organ, and my co-producer Mikhail Pivovarov's bounciest bass line - is no accident, because when we're moving our bodies, dancing, and viscerally connecting with music, we are also most likely to be open to hearing a message of hope, acceptance, positivity, and inclusivity (in my experience, anyway!).
The chorus of the song contains the lyrics "ain't no way to glimmer through the galaxy alone" and the verses detail that yearning to find not only solidarity but optimism with like-minded spirits. As a survivor of uterine cancer, I am always learning and re-learning my physical as well as emotional and spiritual tolerance for negativity in the sense that stress and cortisol can literally make you sick and more susceptible to your cancer returning. I work very hard to stay level, calm, meditative, and mindful, but my inherent nature is to get worked up and distracted by all the things I literally have zero control over, as an empath but also highly distractible and a bit obsessive as well.
When I'm able to find and surround myself with people who not only share appropriate concern for others of all ilks, for the environment, and for themselves, it's revelatory; I'm so grateful that every musician who has been a part of this collective we've call The Sequins for a bunch of years now has a heart of gold, but also an ability to well-balance their own desire to make a positive difference in the world with their ability to be present, to stay positive, and to want to move forward without adding to the "noise" so to speak. Wanting to be right all the time versus wanting to stay open and to keep learning, listening, and growing is something I am drawn to in others and I hope that comes to life when people listen to this song - and all of the songs on our pending record. Sonically, "Live It Up" has sort of a neo-70's feel and hearkens to the pop-rock of Mika, or his predecessor, Elton John's early material, and it's been fun both as a producer and a performer to inhabit that bigger scale of a track that has "everything but the kitchen sink" in it, so to speak, but still manages to feel personal and intimate, vocally.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here
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