Freya Ridings' song "Castles" is one of those songs that makes a person think about the struggles they have overcome in a positive light. The moment I heard the song being played during a karaoke night I had with my friends, I knew that it was a song that had momentum and was made to last through this pandemic. Ridings was originally a contestant on The Voice Germany and performed the song with another contestant, Claudia Emmanuela Santoso. I have seen the performance and immediately realized how powerful the song was in the way it was carried by the performers. The audience could already feel the type of effect the song had on their souls when they heard the singers belch the lyrics to the song.

The thing about "Castles" is that it reminds us that we can build something amazing out of something bad. It tells people that hope does exist in the little things we have around us and the popular saying, "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger" (paying a tribute to Kelly Clarkson here). This song has convinced me to write a poem for my Creative Writing class about hope and how it does exist.

Hearing the chorus made me immediately regret not being able to hear this song earlier such as while I was in treatment for mental health concerns. It would be eye opening to have the song played in a large stadium or right in the middle of Madison Square Garden. Someplace where the song can be seen. The thing with songs is that sometimes, we don't get to actually "see" the song unless it is exposed right there in front of a crowd. That's when the heavy numbing jitters come and we feel a wave of adrenaline as we try to sing along to the lyrics.

We need a song that can give us hope during the pandemic. We already know that the pandemic is not going to officially end anytime soon and we need to see that we can in fact, build castles out of the pandemic. The pandemic may be life threatening, rough, and literally bloodsucking our sanity. However, a song like "Castles" can make us think about these hard times with a more of a halo effect. The pandemic may be a bloodsucking enemy, but we don't always need to think of it as one. If it is going to help us to build some fine architecture, such as castles, then maybe this is all worth the wait. However, castles don't just sprout from the ground. They take some resilience to lay out and know how to go about building it. And, maybe that is the place where everyone needs to be at this point. We have to remind people that we can in fact, build something beautiful and meaningful out of the mess we may have, in front of us.

There are many songs that I easily get sick of, but it feels as if every time I listen to the song "Castles," I just want to listen to it more and more. Maybe it's because I want believe that there

is hope after the pandemic.