Brighter Days

Album: My Tribe (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Blessing Offor is a blind Nigerian singer, songwriter, and musician, who later moved to Nashville.

    After attending Nashville's Belmont University, he spent five years in New York's eclectic music scene before making his way to Los Angeles. During his time in California, Offor came in 11th on Bravo's 2011 reality competition series Platinum Hit and was briefly a contestant on The Voice.

    Offor returned to Nashville in 2015, where he continued to showcase for labels and write songs. In 2020, Chris Tomlin heard his co-write with Natalie Hemby, "Tin Roof." He recorded it for his Chris Tomlin & Friends album, and featured Offor's vocals on the recording. After the song came out, there was the conversation of a longer-term relationship with the CCM luminary, and Tomlin signed Offor to his Bowyer & Bow imprint in partnership with Universal's Capitol Christian Music Group.

    "Brighter Days" is the title track from Offor's February 2022 EP. Released as its lead single on October 15, 2021, it peaked at #2 on Billboard's Christian Airplay chart.
  • During the two bleak verses, Offor sings about hard times and walls crashing down. But in the uplifting chorus, he promises us there will be brighter days, as love will find a way through the pain.

    Offor told Apple Music he's "leery of ever being the pie-in-the-sky cheeseball." When he wrote "Brighter Days," he wanted to include both positive and realistic elements, as he believes it is important to be honest and in touch with reality in order to connect with people.

    "Personally, I hate listening to things that feel like a lie," Offor added. "If someone just walks around telling you, 'Nothing ever goes wrong, ever,' you're going to be like, 'Ew.' But if someone says, 'Hey, stuff's really, really, really hard. But once in a while, there are these moments of transcendent joy that will let you know everything's worth it,' you go, 'OK, that's fair."
  • Offor co-wrote "Brighter Days" with his producer Sam Ellis. Canadian songwriter and producer Ellis' other credits include cuts with Kane Brown ("Learning"), Lady A ("What If I Never Get Over You") and Ingrid Andress ("More Hearts Than Mine").
  • Offor was surprised when a song that doesn't mention "Jesus" or "God" in the lyrics got so much play on Christian radio. "In this industry, it's easier to market things that are crystal clear," he reflected to Billboard.

    Offor added that he's received many messages on social media asking why he calls himself a Christian artist when he doesn't mention Jesus in his songs. It's been an interesting experience for the singer. "I'm a theological nerd, so could I argue about it?" Offor questioned. "Yes. But is it worth it? No, probably not. But because it didn't fit neatly in one particular box, it's gotten to a lot of places in the world where most songs that fit so tightly into that box probably don't get."
  • Offor included "Brighter Days" on his debut album, My Tribe, released in 2023.

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