Starting out in music at the age of 10, you’re bound to have a slew of musical references and ambitions that go well beyond your peers. For Christen Cooper, this interest would grow into receiving placement on the Nashville Songwriters Associations International “Ones to Watch” and “Recommended for Publishers Luncheon” lists, with a whopping four hundred songs handwritten in her arsenal.
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There’s very few places for a musician as ambitious as this to go, and “up” seems to be the best choice so that’s precisely where Cooper has been headed. Steadily releasing a wide array of singles all within the country genre, Cooper’s latest release finds the world at a vulnerable time. Headed into winter and with a catastrophic pandemic, war in Syria, and loss of a member of the British Royal Family, things are understandably… tough. Thankfully, Christen Cooper’s new single is all about finding the good within the bad, and keeping your head up no matter what.
Titled “Good in the Bad Days,” Cooper spends the track chronicling by piano the way she chooses to see the world. “One thing I know for sure is the world’s gonna keep on turning, nothing lasts forever; even the bad days get better,” says the chorus, as strings kick in and elevate the single above and beyond. The balance of melancholy and uplifting, can-do attitude is what truly allows “Good in the Bad Days” to achieve greatness as a single — the full, abundant production bringing Cooper’s voice together with piano and strings is a wise, stripped-down approach for the track, allowing it to feel like John Lennon’s “Imagine” and not viral the celebrity Zoom karaoke cover of it. The use of vulnerability to not sell your music, but put your lyrics into perspective is a great piece of strength from Cooper, and writing a single so profound and hopeful in a time where things couldn’t feel less chaotic is worth championing alone.
Reigning in her country music sensibilities a little and only allowing her accent to sneak through on a few sentences, Cooper gives “Good in the Bad Days” the chance to be a crossover hit with people that might have otherwise given it the cold shoulder based on its genre. Piano ballads are similarly alienating, but the overall draw of the lyrics, full voice/instrumental makeup of the track, and the timing of the song’s release will do wonders for the track’s trajectory even if people don’t anticipate it.
You might not want a piano ballad, but sometimes you just need a good piano ballad! There’s still plenty more to learn about Christen Cooper and her ever-expanding catalog of country hits, but with 400 tracks in her arsenal, there’s no shred of doubt that we’ll be seeing plenty from her in the coming months. A full-length studio LP would be intriguing to see after seeing her dynamic change between singles so fluently, but Cooper’s clearly working on her own thing and will have something out for fans when she’s ready. For now, the singles are more than enough and their power is lasting.
Heather Savage
