Today (June 19), Gabby Barrett has unleashed her long-awaited debut album, Goldmine. The project features 13-tracks, 12 of which are co-written by Barrett and includes the No. 1 hit “I Hope.” Among the 13-song track list are stand out tracks: “Thank God” and “Jesus And My Mama.” Barrett is sharing the exclusive story behind the two songs with Music Mayhem. Read the meaning behind “Thank God” and find out how “Jesus And My Mama” came about below.
Music Mayhem: Can you tell us the meaning behind the lyrics of “Thank God,” It seems like almost a story behind your life, it seems like it has a motivational story to tell, can you tell us a little bit about it?
Gabby Barrett: Yeah, that one was actually really really fun to write, I wrote that with Nicole Galyon, Jon Nite and Jimmy Robbins and as you know, my faith is very important to me, so any song that I can kind of incorporate any kind of thankfulness to the Lord, is one that I greatly enjoy writing, so it’s just talking about like what would the girl say after she sang I hope, what would she sing after. With I Hope, I am upset at a relationship and I’m angry and so with Thank God, It’s like I have come to realization that regardless of all of the hangs up, make ups, break ups, all of the craziness, I have a real gift in front of me now which is my husband. I am thankful to God and how can I not thank God for such a wonderful person that he’s put in my life so that’s where that song came from.
MM: This song could even go the other way, like to your fans even for giving you such a great career.
Barrett: Yea, There’s so many ways that you could take the song, and that’s something I like, even with another song “You’re The Only Reason” is another song that fans could connect to in that way and use it. It’s not just specifically centered to one person, you could use it towards the Lord, a family member, a relationship or whatever it is. So, that’s something that is important to do with my songs too, so that people could find them relatable to whatever they have going on in their life.
MM: Your song “Jesus And My Mama,” gives us a really big, Miranda Lambert style vibe, It’s just an in your face hit song, I feel like that is gonna be another big hit off your record and I could totally see it going way up the charts upon release of the album. Could you tell us a little bit about that song?
Barrett: Yes, I actually co-wrote that song a few years ago with a few friends of mine. I had actually released that song before I went onto American Idol, and so the wording is a bit different then how it used to be. I think I just changed as a person and wanted to reappropriate the lyrics to who I was now. Especially, the song when it was released before Idol, it was released as a demo and I was sick when I sang the song, but a lot of people liked it and were asking where’d the song go, where’d the song go, so that’s why I definitely wanted to incorporate in this album because I think it was one of the fan-favorites and also the sound of it, I absolutely love, I love the rocky, edgy kind of sound. That is definitely what this song sounds like and it describes me very well and normally I actually open up every single one of my shows with that song, so it’s always a fun one to do.
Goldmine is available to stream and purchase now, HERE.
