Singled Out: Janet LaBelle

The melody had been haunting my mind for a few weeks before I realized that it was trying to escape. It finally revealed itself on a rainy day in April around my birthday. I had just bought a new guitar and was experimenting with the different sounds that I could get out of it. My fingers began playing a chord progression that was instantly followed by a melody that I knew I had heard before. I had a flashback to a few moments that had occurred over the previous few weeks. That same melody had popped into my head once in the shower, once while making breakfast, and one night before falling asleep. These moments were so fleeting that I had never jumped to write the melody down. Now that it was out, I needed the lyrics, which didn't come as easily to me.

I wanted the song to reflect a difficult time that I was going through with assessing the things I had wanted from my life. Maybe these feelings were brought on by my turning another year older, as birthdays tend to do. I felt that I was at a crossroads between deciding to pursue what I love or to take a safer route. I didn't feel alone, however. Many of my friends were experiencing a similar dilemma. The night that I wrote the song, the lyrics came out fragmented and scattered. My thoughts were not all there. The line that was clear to me was the chorus: "You're okay and you know it. It's just a little rain."

It may have been something about that night. The rain felt comforting and was just breaking over the clouds. I felt that I would be okay with my decisions and I knew that my friends would be okay with their choices too. I wanted the song to be a mantra of sorts�for others and for me to sing or think about when feeling discouraged from taking chances that may lead to the places in life where we want to be.