Alana Springsteen announces her sophomore album ‘I Hope This Helps,’ due May 29 via Santa Anna Nashville, and shares its second single “black sheep” today alongside an official music video. The follow-up to her landmark debut ‘TWENTY SOMETHING,’ the new LP goes deeper and pulls no punches, documenting Springsteen’s journey through self-abandoning patterns and the lingering weight of a fear-based faith that shaped her early years. She co-wrote and co-produced all 16 songs, and plays guitar and piano throughout.
“black sheep” arrives as a windows-down anthem of self-acceptance, a sunlit counterpart to last month’s heavy-hearted “note to self.” Written by Springsteen, Lydia Vaughan, Lauren LaRue, and Jared Keim, and produced by Sam Martinez, Springsteen, and Keim, the track shimmers with pedal-steel tones, radiant piano melodies, and sweetly propulsive rhythms. It is one of the most fully realized things she has put to tape.
Springsteen speaks to what the song means at this point in her life: “If I had written ‘black sheep’ two years ago it would have been an insecure, timid plea to be understood, to fit in for once. Instead, the version you hear embodies the confidence that healing has brought me. I wear the title of ‘black sheep’ proudly, as proof that I was created intentionally to walk this path. That we all were. I love the bridge in this song for that reason: ‘can’t believe I thought it was a weakness, when God’s the one who made me this black sheep.’ If you’ve ever felt misunderstood, out of place, like you were meant for something different… I hope you turn this song up. and I hope you let go of who you thought you had to be to make space for who you were always meant to be.”
The video, directed by Jonah George and Springsteen, finds her riding along the coastline from Virginia Beach to the Outer Banks, intercut with kids reveling in the carefree magic of childhood. The result is a quietly potent reflection on the lifelong journey of becoming yourself.