You can hear the pain in her voice, how she means each one of the words she sings, because she’s felt those feelings before. That’s the singer I try to be, have every emotion I’ve felt that resembles the lyrics in front of me flow from within me and come out of my lips with just as much feeling as when they were written. Being a singer is more than fame, glory, money, and fans to me although I won’t sit here and pretend those material things aren’t attractive benefits, just extraneous. Being a singer is for me, yes, but it’s my way of giving back what has been given to me. It takes a lot to get on a stage and bear your soul for all to see and criticize, the kind of courage that I find admirable in others. Singing other people’s words makes me feel like I’m sharing something with them, like I know some part of them that some people don’t. It’s makes me feel a connection, it’s friendship. Singing the words I write makes me feel more than courageous, it makes me feel free. Courage is freedom. It’s more than what I want to be, it’s who I am. I’m a singer.