“Fight Song” singer Rachel Platten has released a new single inspired by her very personal fight against “the darkness.”
Rachel says she wrote “Mercy” in her studio in the middle of the night during what she describes as “the darkest part of a very painful battle with my mental health.” Rachel’s been open about suffering from postpartum depression and anxiety following the birth of her two daughters.
“I ran to my piano and banged on the lower register and let out a guttural cry, ‘oooh mercy, I can’t take anymore, please stop this pain,’” Rachel explains. “The darkness felt so big, but this almost joyful music was coming out of my voice and piano keys. The chords were triumphant, the wail of ‘oh mercy’ was so wounded and yet so raw and soulful, like the rock and roll I grew up loving.”
“Janis Joplin, Elvis, Susan Tedeschi and Sheryl Crow were with me that night as I channeled this answer to my pain,” she adds. “It came all at once, so fast that I had to try to catch the words as they spilled out of me.”
On Instagram, Rachel commented on the song, “Writing it was medicine for me, it healed me to just to sing the huge chorus over and over. It reminded me of the light in the dark and how both can exist at the same time.”
Rachel played “Mercy” in New York City on January 18 as part of an intimate conversation and performance during which she premiered more of her new music. The song is the follow-up to her 2023 single “Girl.”
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