Reeling from her band’s breakup and her divorce, Grace Potter needed something to blame. She chose music. Frustrations mounted and amid personal struggles, her artistic process came to a halt. With the birth of her son, she eventually began the process of forgiveness, and in doing so created her latest album, Daylight.
She considers this record, along with her first solo album Midnight, to be “bookends” of her story. Coming shortly after the breakup of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Midnight allowed Potter to subvert expectations of herself as an artist, and allowed her to have –as she puts it– “the audacity to bum my fans out.” While Midnight presents a radical shift in her persona and musical style, Daylight focuses on more internal changes.
Throughout life, she says, “music was always there, but I didn’t chase it.” Her relationship with music was largely situational, and Potter grew frustrated with music and the music industry when faced with the dissolution of both her band and her marriage. It wasn’t until becoming pregnant with her son that she began welcoming music back into her life.
“I wanted to bring him into a world where music was a joyful part of my life, or that basically nothing was impossible.”
With the help of her current husband/producer Eric Valentine, she began a “very natural progression back into music that felt really comfortable.”
The making of Daylight began with Potter’s personal journal entries and reflections, she says, and it addresses “all of the earthquakes that were caused by the emotions and the emancipation that I was needing and demanding while I was making the album Midnight.” Throughout the album, she reflects on many ends, but she also draws inspiration from new beginnings: new love, a new marriage, and her first child. Furthermore, she says, “music has proven to be an incredible friend to me after all.”
-Claire Lin Jenkins
