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A Canadian artist recently put her own spin on a popular worship song along with her own tune.
Elenee released a cover version of "Goodness of God" as well as her own song, "Sunshine and Rainbows."
She said choosing to do "Goodness of God" was an easy decision. "When you have nothing else to sing about, you can't help but sing about how God has been so good, even in some of the most tragic and grief-stricken situations in my life and in other people's lives. "Goodness of God" just seems to be this anthem of gratitude."
While this is a cover project for Elenee, she was able to connect deeply to the lyrics. "I didn't grow up with a great relationship with my dad. He made a lot of really poor decisions, and ultimately, he was emotionally very absent. And so, because of that, I also really struggled with friendships. It followed me into adulthood, trying to learn how to be a friend. So that line, 'I've known You as a Father and I've known You as a Friend,' it hit me so hard.
Working on this project came at an interesting time for Elenee. "I was on an airplane in Kitchener, Ont. I was leaving an award show where I had been nominated for five awards and I left with zero. I mean this very honestly, awards mean very little to me. For some reason, I was like, 'How did I not win anything?' I was just like, 'God, I don't think that I am meant to be an artist.' Weirdly enough, I had felt this calling on my life for so long to do music."
From that moment, she started sharing covers on social media. "I would put the little blurbs of maybe 90 seconds on Instagram. All these people were like, 'Where can I listen to your original music?' This whole process, "Goodness of God" being in the middle, this was one that went viral."
While she believes she is following the calling God has placed on her life, she reminds herself that it may not look as she would have pictured it. "When God called me at eight years old to make music, He never told me that I would win awards. He never told me I'd be this stadium headline tour artist. He just said you're going to be used mightily in the gift of language and music."
Being able to share her original music has been a highlight for Elenee. Her latest song, "Sunshine and Rainbows," is a vulnerable message.
"I told my husband what I'm picturing is my life feels like this album art where I'm curled up in a corner in darkness. I was perceiving that everything around me is really depleted, really dark, kind of in the negatives for everything creatively. But yet I have to talk to people and have this really energetic and excited face and voice, and really put myself out there because I don't want to drag people down."
As she is able to communicate what she's feeling through lyrics, she found out she is not the only one. "I had a writing session with Landry Cantrell, who is a dear friend to me. I brought that to him. I was like, 'This is what I see. I don't know if it's a song.' And he's like, 'Let's write about it.' And he kind of just started to disclose the fact that, like, he also feels this way a lot of times, like creatively depleted."
"Sunshine and Rainbows" is about each one of their spouses. "It's me and Jer sitting in the hot tub and decompressing. For him, it's him and Kelsey. She'll hug him in this way that he's just like, I can just let it off.
"The theme is that if you don't have that person, that tangible interaction, we always have that in Jesus Christ. He is literally the safest space. He will hold us close. He will do all the things, especially in times when we feel like we are at our lowest points."
Listen to the full song below.