Local musician produces new song to bring people together

May 7, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By ALYSSA PARKHILL

Artists all over the world have taken this time during the global COVID-19 pandemic to create new music in the hopes of, spiritually at least, bringing people together. Virtual concerts, collaborations among several artists, and new songs have been released to promote and engage in togetherness.

Local musician Sara Rose aims to do the same.

Rose began her music career at age 10, when she first started song writing and performing. When her aunt gave her first guitar on her birthday, music quickly became a key part of her life.

Sara’s first album, ‘Until Now’ was released in 2018. She has recently released her second album ‘We Could Be Beautiful’. Since truly starting to focus on her musical career a couple of years ago, Sara has been recognized with multiple awards – such as the Headwaters’ 25 Under 25 Award in 2018, and the Town of Orangeville’s Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2019. Recently, Sara was invited to a closed audition to appear on an upcoming season of the popular TV show The Voice.

“Music is something that everyone feels and it’s a way of making sense of all things in life for me; all parts happy, confusing, sad, good and bad,” said the 24-year-old. “I find some days I’m feeling fine and others I’m not okay.”

Through her passion for music, and wanting to spread the power of song, she wrote ‘Coming Home’ from her ups and downs during COVID-19.

“I wrote this song on one of those good and bad days. I was feeling anxious and sad about what was going on in the world, and heard my grandpa say to my mom that when he gets to hug us again that he won’t let go,” said Rose. “It made me think about how we’re all each other’s salvation and we lean on each other in times like these, even when we’re physically apart.”

She added, “It centres on a piece of what I think every human being has been feeling some degree of lately.”

Rose released Coming Home on April 8 to express how she has been dealing with living through the pandemic, in hopes to help people relate and know they’re not alone.

“We aren’t always in control of the things that happen, but we’re in control of how we respond to them and in this case, we stand together in doing our part to fight this virus,” she said.

Alongside her music career, Rose is also the Vice-President of Hospice Dufferin. She gained her Honors in Bachelor of Social Work in 2018 to fulfil her passion of helping those through palliative care. She mixes these two joys by hosting an annual benefit concert that she co-founded in 2017, Hope through Harmonies.

“Music brings people together in the most beautiful ways, especially in times like this. I’m so glad to see musicians coming together from far and wide to help out in any way they can. Music is so empowering, and it opens the door to help us get through difficult times through connecting to a song that relates to what you’re going through. Singing along to your favourite song is enough to put a smile on your face in a matter of seconds,” expressed Rose.

The talented 24-year-old hopes her new song brings comfort and consolation to those who are struggling through these difficult times, and to know to lean on others when it gets hard.

“Love carries us together more than ever right now,” she said. “To those showing up to work every day, thank you. And to those who too struggle with their mental health, please hang in there.”

To learn more about Sara and her music, please visit sarahollyrose.com.