We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Stay with Me - Single (2021)

by Christina Martin

/

about

Singer, songwriter and storm-maker Christina Martin is back, releasing lead single Stay With Me from her upcoming eighth studio album Storm, slated for a Fall 2022 launch. Pounding, titanic and tender all at once, Stay With Me is a string-drenched anthem that reaches new dizzying heights for the Canadian songweaver, and kicks open the doors for the masterclass album to follow. Stay With Me is available across Digital Platforms on October 1st.

“The muse for this song came in a pre-pandemic dream. I saw a girl wander a cobblestone city-street, through thick fog and moonlit night, and heard a familiar melody and the line ‘stay with me’. Unlike in dreams where I sometimes feel trapped in terrifying scenarios, with this song I found a space to purge my fears and then coax myself to a better place.”

It should come as no surprise that a song this ethereal was born in a dream. After glimpsing fragments of it in her subconscious, Martin set to crafting the song into a finished piece, and it ended up as the cornerstone and trendsetter for the whole Storm album.

As suits its surreal origins, Stay With Me has a cinematic feel to it. All built around a timeless, theatrical piano and Martin’s spectral vocals, delicate as eggshells and yet soaring as an eagle, backed by drums that pound and burst like distant fireworks. Like much of the album to come, it’s impossible to ignore the luscious string section, which adds a grandiose, orchestral tone to the piece. Symphonic and succulent, Martin sweeps them up into a fervour. Yet her vocals rise masterfully above it all, like a lone ship cresting a great wave.

The lyrics, with true Christina Martin style, are enigmatic. They shift and turn on a phrase - painting mindscapes of despair and ruin, yet hope and peace at the same time. The oft-repeated title sounds at times like a desperate plea, yet other times like a world-wise mantra, and acknowledgement of one’s past experiences. It is poetic, powerful, even hauntingly prophetic in references to ‘breathing without masks’ and ‘living in fear’ in a song written (and dreamt) a year before the global pandemic. There is something untouchable at work here, something magical.

Stay With Me was one of the first songs recorded for the album, and had a heavy influence on the soundscape of those that followed. Originally rendered in a more upbeat pop/rock style, it went through a radical rework to end up at the more dreamy symphonic tone of the final piece. This saw Martin co-producing with long-term collaborator Dale Murray, and writing the string parts alongside Karen Graves. This collaborative approach to orchestral arrangements was new territory for Martin, weaponizing midi synths and loops in the composing process.

Stay With Me is also accompanied by a music video, written and directed by Brendan Henry, which is suitably dreamlike, dark and surreal. As part of Christina’s devotion to growing her online community, she’s hosting an exclusive 60 minute global Music Video Premiere Event October 24th at 2PM Atlantic Daylight Time. The event offers fans a bioptic of the making of the video, a chance for Q&A with her and the video director, and a new performance video of the song. Attendees need to pre-register (below) for this event and have the option to ‘pay what they can’ to watch the video early, reducing any financial barrier to accessing an online experience during the pandemic.

Save Your Spot for the music video premiere here: www.crowdcast.io/e/staywithmevideo

lyrics

Stay with Me - Lyrics

I’ve given you all and it’s all that I’ve got
Stay with me, stay with me
I’m keeping busy ‘cause it makes me feel young and wanted
Stay with me
I’m older and wiser, don’t let that be bad
Stay with me, stay with me now
I can’t make all these things he’s done go away
Stay with me, stay with me

All the things we’ve destroyed
Nothing’s really changed
Surrounded by poison and plastic
There is nothing left to ruin

I’ve given you all and it’s all that I’ve got
Stay with me, stay with me
Once time was a gift, now it feels like a curse
Stay with me, stay with me
No wonder you’re anxious, we should be afraid
Stay with me, stay with me now
When push comes to shove, will you hand me the shell
Stay with me, stay with me

There was a time we had it all
We took it all for granted
Once we could breathe without our masks, without the fear
Hold me now, I can’t see past what’s been happening to us
Just pretend you don’t see love creeping out, love creeping out

I’ve given you all and it’s all that I’ve got
Stay with me, stay with me
I’m keeping busy ‘cause it makes me feel young and wanted
Stay with me
I’m older and wiser, don’t let that be bad
Stay with me, stay with me now
Can’t make all these things he’s done go away
Stay with me, stay with me

I look to the stars, they remind me of you
You’re with me now, you’re always with me
I look to the stars, they remind me of you
You’re with me now, you’re always with me

[Always I look to the stars in the black night
They tell me I’m always with you
And when I look to the stars in the black night
Reminds me I’m always with you]

I look to the stars, they remind me of you
You’re with me now, you’re always with me
I look to the stars, they remind me of you
You’re with me now, you’re always with me
I’ve given you all and it’s all that I’ve got
Stay with me

credits

released October 1, 2021
Music and Lyrics by Christina Martin
Produced by Christina Martin & Dale Murray
Engineered and Mixed by Dale Murray
Mastered by Dave McNair
Grand Piano – Ian Bent
Drums – Jordi Comstock
Bass Guitar – Jason Vautour
Violins – Karen Graves
Guitars – Dale Murray
Sonic Delights – Christina Martin & Dale Murray

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Christina Martin

Christina Martin is a powerhouse musician, songsmith, and performer hailing from the windswept East Coast of Canada. Her music dances effortlessly through Pop, Rock, Folk and Americana traditions but stays deftly unchained by any one label, refusing to be pigeon-holed and unafraid to dip into stranger waters. Martin is an artist who is constantly shifting, and constantly evolving. ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact Christina Martin

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like Christina Martin, you may also like: