It’s certainly a girl-power anthem, but Amanda Kind’s latest single touches on topics that are universal.
‘Rebel Spirit’ is “a girl power song, but it’s really just an empowerment song in general. And it seems to be resonating with people, which is wonderful,” said Kind of the new single.
The latest release comes immediately on the heels of her single ‘Slow Dance’ hit the number-one spot on SiriusXM’s Top of the Country.
The song’s message encourages listeners to embrace their inner rebel, live life on their own terms, and be true to themselves.
It’s a sentiment born of years of experience, says Kind, noting that at 43 she’s lived some life and knows the perks of being an adult.
“There’s something really wonderful about knowing who you are and what you want to sing about. When I’m writing, it’s very clear for me what those topics are. Empowering people, not only women but everybody, is a big, important topic for me,” she said. “Embracing uniqueness is a topic that’s important for me, and I think this song really does try and capture that both musically and lyrically.”
Knowing who you are and being comfortable in yourself are universal goals, though women and girls in particular tend to struggle with them.
“It felt like it was time to write about what that experience is, although I think it’s universal, really, for anybody who needs to hear the message that listening to yourself is a learned skill in a society that wants to tell it to fit into specific boxes,” she said.
Girls face those kinds of pressures, and start to lose their self-confidence around the age of 12, Kind notes. Such was her own experience, and she knows how hard it is to gain that back, a point that was driven home by the fact her twin nieces, Madeleine and Olivia, turned 12 earlier this year.
“They amaze me all the time. They are funny, smart, willing to try new things even if they fail as they learn,” Kind said, noting she searched for a way to support her nieces’ confidence and strength as they grow.
The song was “born out of a lot of years of thinking about what it means to be a strong woman and what it means to raise strong women. I don’t have kids, but I have lots of kids in my life.”
‘Rebel Spirit’ was written by Kind and fellow country artist Jessie T, with production by Matt Koebel. The band includes Koebel on keys, Emile d’Eon on guitar, Stu Weinberg on guitar, Mark Rynkun on bass, Rich DaSilva on drums and Shane Guse on fiddle.
It was very much a local effort, says Kind, noting the vocals were recorded in St. Jacobs. The collaboration with other musicians allowed for the “wild energy” needed for a song called ‘Rebel Spirit.’
“I was finished recording that song, and we were just about ready to get it sent off to be mastered. But there was something about the song that didn’t sit right for me from an instrumentation standpoint – it just didn’t seem to have enough wild energy in it. The word ‘rebel’ in itself, it just has a wildness to it, right? So I phoned my friend Shane Guse, who’s an incredible fiddle player here in town, and I asked him if he could lay down some fiddle stuff on the track tomorrow, basically – I called him the night before. He did an incredible job laying down a bunch of these wicked fiddle things in the song, and I just think it makes the song because it’s got this wild energy to it that accompanies the lyrics and the vocals of it,” she explained of the last-minute changes.
“Music is inherently collaborative, so as much as it’s my song, it’s made special by everyone’s contributions to it.”
‘Rebel Spirit’ is available now on all streaming platforms.