“’Here Comes the Light’ was a collaborative project between everyone involved,” Stephan shares regarding the song’s video. “We figured a lot of this out as we went and just really had to trust that each person was going to show up and kill it. And everyone involved was amazing! We knew we wanted a fun, visually-pleasing, abstract concept for this video. Something to inspire, but also give the viewer some energy for their day. I hope this does that for you.” Watch now: Stephan’s voice is fierce and fearless, but this was not always the case. She grew up shy and afraid of her voice until she started writing songs on the family piano in South St. Paul when she was 16. In music, she discovered something extraordinary that allowed her to transcend everyday life and find a deeper sense of self. An underlying theme throughout Stephan’s music is hope, she explains, “It’s such a cliched word and yet there are so many layers to it. Hope keeps us alive. It keeps us moving. But it also feels flighty some days like a pixie that does what it wants. But it’s not a pixie. It’s more like the air we breathe. Some days it’s presence is stronger than we realize and some days we forget in our day-to-day lives that it’s there… keeping us moving forward.” Her music combines her love for the storytelling elements of Disney ballads and the bold, brilliance of The White Stripes, as well as the soul-wrenching R&B melodies of H.E.R. Casii Stephan has seen success both obtaining and being nominated for multiple awards from the likes of Independent Music Awards, Hollywood Music in Media Awards and USA Songwriting Competition to name a few. She also heads a female fronted festival entitled MisFEST in Tulsa, that has gained recognition both locally and nationally. The singer-songwriter is set to perform at Sundance Festival and was also recently profiled in Billboard. Next, do people who are tone-deaf hear music differently?
