By Nicarlyle Hanchard / The Jambar
Beloved readers, please join me in welcoming Celeste Waite, professionally known as Celeste. I was first introduced to her last year in Peacock’s “The Day of the Jackal” — for anyone who likes suspense, action and a bit of drama, I would highly recommend the series.
Celeste’s “This Is Who I Am” was the theme song for the show. I am not entirely sure the technical term is theme song, but we shall work with that for now. I was stuck on the titular “this is who I am” lyric at the end of the chorus. Each chorus ends with a high note that not only sounds like it is coming from deep in her diaphragm but from deep within her soul.
I catch myself singing that line several times throughout the day, because at the end of the day, this is, in fact, who I am. Everyday is another step in acknowledging who I am and embracing that. I was deeply touched by each verse in the song.
In the opening lines, Celeste sings, “Some flowers never get to bloom and see the day. Some flowers are content to wish their lives away.” I immediately thought about wasted potential. I must be honest, I am an avid complainer — I’ll get the task done, but I will lament throughout the entire process and sometimes, I was content to wish those moments away.
I often ask why we must struggle through life, but I have also come to embrace those moments — Not only because they build character, but because they are a part of life. And to some extent, I believe that if they were to pass us by as quickly as we want, we would miss very important and, oftentimes painful, lessons.
In the outro, Celeste sings, “Sunrise to sunset. This is who I am.” I am grateful for that. Those two moments though are rather introspective and contemplative. At sunrise, we decide who we are going to be that day and what type of day we hope to have. At sunset, we reflect on the day we had, if we put our best foot forward and if we got all the tasks done on our to-do list.
Additionally, we are usually by ourselves, in some capacity, during those times. The person we see when we wake up and decide to be that day, ideally, is the same person we go to bed with. And, if we are in tune with ourselves, should be the same person we are between those times.
As someone who is constantly growing into himself and is cognizant of it, I do my best to ensure that at sunrise, throughout the day and at sunset, the person I see in the mirror and feel in my skin is someone I am proud to be.
Enough about me and back to Celeste. She released an album last fall titled “Woman of Faces,” which includes “This Is Who I Am” and other similarly introspective songs. The opening track, “On With The Show,” feels like someone has been spying on you and wrote a song to tell you what they saw.
I suggest everyone gives it a listen, even once. All in all, the emotions I feel when I listen to Celeste’s music are the same feelings I want people to feel when they read my poetry.