As premiered by PopMatters (US) and Music News (UK), Rachael Sage has released a new video to accompany her Top 40 charting single, “Blue Sky Days” from her album Character. Originally composed as a meditation on gratitude in the midst of her own cancer recovery, Sage’s song has taken on new resonance during Covid-19. Every week since lockdown, Rachael has been performing “Blue Sky Days” online via her Facebook Livestream sessions “Stay In With Sage” (benefiting New York-based charities), where listeners from all over the world have expressed how much the lyrics’ uplifting imagery has been helping them stay positive and hopeful.
The video, directed by award-winning cinematographer Michael Flanagan and produced by longtime collaborator Nick Clark, features 10-year-old figure skater Morgan Sage (no relation), and was filmed at the historic Evarts Rink in Katonah, NY as well as Carriage House Studios in Stamford, CT.
The captivating clip was conceived and art-directed by Rachael, who has been a passionate lifelong fan of figure-skating. Combining graceful, expansive movements on the ice with the warm intimacy of a solo piano performance, the video supplies an artistic antidote to the global condition of “sheltering in place”.
Rachael explains, “As a survivor, it was important to pair this song with imagery that exemplified the freedom that comes from regaining control not only of one’s physical body, but over one’s spirit as well. When I saw Morgan skate, her sheer joy and pure expressiveness immediately reminded me of what I was feeling when I played my first show after my recovery. The song is essentially about hope, as well as a particular kind of gratitude that is much stronger because it is grounded in mindfulness. Now more than ever, we all can agree that health, loved-ones and the beauty of nature are precious beyond measure… and that eventually, the clouds do clear.”
