Matthew West ‘Got A Little Choked Up’ Writing New Single ‘18 Summers’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Matthew West is sharing the “bittersweet” inspiration behind his latest single, “18 Summers.”
“They always say, ‘Don’t blink.’ Well, I know why. My oldest daughter, Lulu, is about to graduate from high school…lately I find myself asking that bittersweet rhetorical question: ‘Where has the time gone?’” he said during an episode of “The Matthew West Podcast.”
West continued, “I wrote a song inspired by this chapter. It looks back at each and every season of life raising our daughters, and it echoes the aching feeling in our hearts that silently cries out, ‘Can we please go back to the beginning and do it all over again?’”
The song was so personal for West that he said he “didn’t even play it for my family until it was getting ready to release, and I made sure that they were the first ones to hear it.”
He shared that his wife started crying when she heard the chorus:
Eighteen summers gone like that
Eighteen years you don’t get back
Eighteen trips around the sun, don’t it make you wonder
Why holding time’s like holding sand
Always slipping through my hands
What I’d give to hold you for another
Eighteen summers
Oh, eighteen summers
“She got a little choked up. I got a little choked up. And I got a little choked up writing the song,” West admitted.
He spoke further about the song’s inspiration in an interview with Woman’s World, saying, “It’s like a prayer for family. Don’t stop praying for your family. Don’t stop praying for your kids. It’s not written in the form of a prayer. It’s more written in a form of just that aching feeling you get as time flies by before your eyes, and you wish you could get it back. It’s about making the most of the time you get with them.”
“When you measure time in different forms, it can highlight the brevity of life,” West continued. “I was having a conversation with another dad, and he said, ‘Yeah, I heard it said once that we only have 18 summers. When you think about it, not as 18 years, but 18 summers, it all of a sudden feels so much smaller and so finite.”
West concluded, “I thought ’18 Summers’ was a great title for a song. So as I was thinking about my daughter getting close to graduation, that title kept popping up to me. Right now is the perfect time for me to write that message, because that’s what I’m living.”
Movieguide® previously reported on “18 Summers”:
Matthew West, a globally known Christian artist and father of two, reminisces about his parenting journey in his new song “18 Summers.”
“Penned by West with collaborators Jeff Pardo and AJ Pruis, the reflective tune walks through special memories with his family over the last 18 years of parenthood. The piano-backed melody is an all too relatable track about how fast time flies and shares standout moments, from Disney trips to learning how to drive and everything in between,” the Christian Beat reported.
West released the song on April 26…
“We’re dealing with all the heart feelings and emotions of, like, ‘Wow! How fast did it go? This is unbelievable.’ We just had her graduation party last night. We’re cleaning up after the party today—I can’t believe how fast it’s gone.”
In addition to working on his upcoming album, West has also just released his sixth book, “My Story, Your Glory.”
“‘My Story, Your Glory’ reveals how God brings hope into all situations in our lives. We all have hurts, mistakes, and losses in our lives that we wish would disappear. God promises that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him,” a synopsis of the book reads. “By sharing his own highs and lows, West relates to readers and helps them to reflect on the less-than-perfect parts of their lives.”
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