Lights is a Canadian artist best described as electronic but also known to dabble in the acoustic arts. She is also a comic book artist and writer and a mom.
And she works hard for everything she does.
I first discovered Lights through listening to Owl City. She was featured on "The Yacht Club" and after hearing that beautiful voice, I had to figure out who it was. After some research, I was soon a big fan of Lights as well. Since then, I've seen her in concert twice just to confirm that she was actually a real person.
Her pure talent shines through in every avenue she decides to tackle. She currently has four full-length albums, one acoustic full-length album, three EPs, various singles and most recently even a cover album of Drake's "Scorpion." Her last full-length album acted as a companion to her comic book series "Skin and Earth."
Lights wrote and illustrated "Skin and Earth" all by herself. It's the post-apocalyptic story of Enaia Jin, a girl who looks a lot like Lights herself. Lights said that this story is just the beginning of many possibilities to come in the future.
In addition to all of this wonderful work, Lights is also a mom to her daughter. She and her husband Beau Bokan of Blessthefall are raising the cutest little kid, Rocket Wild (yes, that's her name. Rad, right?). She posts the occasional picture of Rocket doing cool things on her Instagram!
The amount of hours Lights puts in for all this wonderful content and her life has got to be astronomical. Somehow, she balances it all. I'm sure it's not easy. I'm also sure it takes a lot of motivation.
Sometimes I need a little motivation, and Lights' music reminds me to keep going and to work hard for my goals.
Here are a few lyrics that always hit home.
1. "It will never change if you want it to stay the same."
The first Lights song I ever heard.
From "Saviour"
2. "I want to go where you're going, a follower following. Changing but never changed, claiming but never claimed."
From "River"
3. "I know you're upset and that you're happy just to sit and hate me, but I'll make a bet that you'll be better to forget about me."
Owl City once tweeted...
From "Ice"
4. "Now is not the time, and you're not alone. Shut up about it, no one can bring you down now."
From "The Last Thing On Your Mind"
5. "Look at the people all around you, the way you feel is something everybody goes through. Dark out, but you still gotta light up. You need to wake up, gotta keep your face up."
From "Face Up"
6. "You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid."
Fun fact: this song is about World of Warcraft.
From "Lions!"
8. "Oh, I'm not a lost cause, I'm just stuck in this spot and I'm close to falling off, so toss me a heavy rope."
I like the acoustic version better.
From "Heavy Rope"
9. "We're just a mess of moments that's adding up to where we are, and you're the frame and focus that's making sense of it so far. I'm not depressed or hopeless, I'm only walking in a blur, and you're the frame and focus. I'm the scene, you're the director."
Listen to this song when you're out in nature appreciating the world around us.
From "Frame and Focus"
10. "Singing every song, loving every line til the night is gone. Just like the old times."
From "Running With the Boys"
11. "Nothing gives easy, easy gives nothing. I'm just tryin'a keep income coming in. Dawn is bound to break when the night is done. Always darker days before brighter ones."
From "Up We Go"
12. "The world in the rear-view mirror doesn’t matter, I won’t be comin back here after."
Also, "Sleep is for the weary, I'm not slowing down."
From "Speeding"
13. "They haven't even seen nothing yet, don't you forget. Lately you’ve been breathing fire in your sleep."
This whole song, actually.
From "Meteorites"
14. "Maybe we live just to tell our story and how to get there."
From "How We Do It"
15. "Not without the accidents, but I got a good feeling."
From "Lucky Ones"
16. "No guts, no glory."
From "Skydiving," the first full song on her "Skin and Earth" companion album.
17. "Setting flames, taking names, just 'cause we own the town. We're gonna write it solid as gold, we're gonna make it so they gonna know that we were here."
From "We Were Here"
18. "'Cause not all who wander are looking for the exit."
This song is so fun. Please dance to this one sometime.
From "Kicks"
19. "Where we could be giants, bigger than the walls that hide us, breaking all the laws of science, looking at a sea of diamonds."
This one. This is the one. The most motivational Lights song out there, in my opinion at least. I listen to this on repeat, no lie.
From "Giants"
I listen to Lights when I'm driving. I listen to Lights when I have to wake up before the sun rises. I listen to Lights when I have a deadline I've procrastinated way too long.
I listen to Lights when I feel down or anxious and the music lifts my mood for a minute. I listen to Lights when I'm excited or celebrating good things. I listen to Lights when I don't know how to feel.
I listen to Lights when I need motivation. And I hope you can find motivation or comfort or whatever you need in her music, too.
