Riley Clemmons
What if every broken place I’ve been was a Godsend.”
This lyric from the title track of Riley Clemmons’ second full-length release represents the core of a creative vision that came to her nearly two years before the arrival of her new album, Godsend.
After years in Nashville, songwriting sessions with some of the industry’s elite, touring the country, and releasing music of her own, the 21-year-old has found her stride. Enter a Global Pandemic. Like everybody else, Riley was stuck at home. Undeterred, she used the time to learn how to hang dry wall and hardwire equipment in order to build a D.I.Y. basement studio where she made much of Godsend. She knew she couldn’t stop recording. More determined than ever, Riley constructed a place where she could escape to her own personal creative haven. She collaborated over ZOOM with producer Tedd T [for KING & COUNTRY, Mutemath] and soaked up inspiration from numerous cowriters such as Emily Weisband, Paul Duncan, and more, working to retrofit the music to the title it spawned
Introduced to music at a young age by her parents, Riley grew up listening to everyone from Van Halen, The Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac to Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Billy Joel, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. Dad influenced her love for classic rock, while mom sang in church and cultivated Riley’s passion for gospel. Both sides ultimately informed her path as a songwriter. After logging countless hours in sessions, her first single “Broken Prayers” took flight in 2017 and racked up 30 million-plus streams. In support of her 2018 self-titled debut album, she hit the road for the first time with Tauren Wells and grew into a powerhouse presence on stage. In 2019, she teased out her next chapter with “Fighting For Me,” which amassed over 80 million global streams. Thus far, she’s gathered nearly 210 million total career streams and 50 million YouTube views to date.
She set the stage for Godsend in 2020 with “Healing” and “Over and Over (feat. Lauren Alaina),” and in early 2021, she welcomed audiences into the album’s world with her fastest growing single to date, “Keep On Hoping,” which amassed 1 million streams in the first two weeks of release and has quickly climbed the Billboard and radio airplay charts. Above a driving beat, the track builds from intimate verses into a sweeping hook backed by a gospel choir.
The bold ballad, her current single as of April 30th, “I’m Not Alone,” pairs her raw vocals with resounding piano. She confronts the overwhelming feelings of pervasive loneliness brought on by the past 18 months as the stark production highlights the emotion in her voice.
Thick funk-infused bass and handclaps underline “Stuck Inside My Head” as the BPM picks up and Riley’s vocals ring out on the hypnotic hook. “I was in the middle of coming out of a relationship where I was stuck,” she recalls. “I knew it was no longer healthy for me, but I was stuck in that place. That was part of growing and learning though.”
On the heels of “Stuck Inside My Head,” she gains confidence through that growth and immediately launches into “Headspace.” Palm-muted guitar backs a spunky and spirited promise, “You’re never going to see my heart break, because you can’t have my headspace.”
As she deliberately sequenced the songs to resolve from one emotion into the next, much like a live set, the album moves into the confessional ballad “When Nothing Hurts” right after. Above sparse production, she embraces the importance of gratitude in life’s best moments. Then, there’s “Irreplaceable.”
Everything comes to a head on “Godsend.” Her voice echoes with stark emotion as she takes stock of her journey. It codifies the primary theme in a universally relatable anthem.
Ultimately, Riley takes all of the wisdom gained from those mistakes and lessons and uses it to empower herself and others on Godsend.
“Every song on this record is something I’ve been through or felt defeated by and had to learn how to get back up from again,” she leaves off. “Music has always told my story for me. When you listen to this, I hope these songs possibly help tell your story.”
