Song Synopsis
This song is a call to carpe diem — to seize the day with all our senses alive. There’s nothing outside of us that can make this moment any better. Through feeling, hearing, and seeing, we’re reminded: This day is ours to experience. Ours to enjoy. Ours to rise with.
Lyrics
Oh you feel it
Aren’t you glad to be alive
Even in bad times there are good times
It’s time to Shine and Rise
Oh you feel it
Like the beating of your heart
We are ready the ground is steady
It’s time to Shine and Rise
Verse 2
Oh you hear it
Like thunder in the skies
RInging in your ears
The sound of new years
It’s time to Shine and Rise
Oh you hear it
Like a knocking on your door
Are you ready to open
Get into motion
It’s time Shine and Rise
Chorus/Solo
Verse 3
Oh you see it
Like a bright star in the sky
Lighting a new way
Starting a new way
It’s time to Shine and Rise
Oh you see it
Like a path opened for you
I think we’re all ready
I KNOW we’re all ready
It’s time to Shine and Rise
CHORUS
Ooh ooh
It’s love that shines the light
Guiding your way
Are you ready to face the day
Oooh ooh
We’re going for a ride
Are you ready for love
Ready for love
And glad to be alive
Backstory and Info
If you’ve read the liner notes, you already know a bit of where this song came from. But what I love about writing music from the heart is this: you might think you know where a song is headed… and then a deeper force, a greater force, says, “It’s not yours. Let’s go over here instead.” That’s exactly what happened with Shine and Rise.
It began with a strong guitar part in my head, but my fingers weren’t quite up to the task. The whole TED project is built on collaboration — on letting go, releasing control, and trusting people with the skills, experience, and mastery to lift a song beyond what I could do alone.
Enter Aurellen, a hired gun from Fiverr. (And yeah — big shout-out to Fiverr, because there are some wildly talented folks on there.) I sent him my tracks and my very limited solo — the one I could hear but not execute. And man… he nailed it. Soon, you’ll even be able to see the genesis of this track on the site — including my humble solo next to his masterful take.
With our timeline and a promise to not over-polish every note, we decided to leave the song as it is for launch. That said, the TED site is built for evolution, so a future remix is absolutely on the table.
This was the first truly big song we produced for the whole project — an anthem and a call:
It’s time to shine and rise.
And I think we did just that.
