I wrote "Uprooted" shortly after I moved to Korea from Carlisle, PA over the summer of 2019. It felt like I had been given a taste of paradise and then quickly had it snatched away from me. Carlisle had everything I could ever ask for from a high school: teachers who cared, classes I enjoyed, activities I could invest in, and friends who I loved and who loved me back. Then I was sent across the world to a place that felt like it had none of these. It wasn't the first time I felt resentment toward my position as a military kid, but this time my resentment burned hotter than ever before. That was when I started writing "Uprooted". Usually, my songs are instrumental and digitally created, but I knew that to fully tell the story I wanted to tell, I couldn't do it by myself. Elena Ashburn completely SLAYED the vocals, and Lola Gehman brought the instrumentation to life with her viola skills. Elena is a fellow military kid, but also a true friend who I can always count on to talk to about life because she feels the same pain I do. Lola isn't a military kid, but is also one of my closest friends who feels the pain of military life when her friends leave her. We did this collaboration from thousands of miles apart and from three separate locations: Florida, Pennsylvania, and Korea. If that doesn't scream "Army Brats" then I don't know what does!
The end of "Uprooted" is hopeful. I'll never stop missing the other places I've lived, but I've always learned to move on and invest in my current home, and I ultimately have done that at Camp Humphreys. For all of the military kids who are in the same boat, using your God given gifts to make a difference in your community as well as forming new relationships will help you rise above your struggles, as it has for me.
This is an amazing song! Thank you so much for sharing it!