Amy Grant Reflects on Her First Album in 13 Years, ‘The Me That Remains’: How Our Limitations Shape Our Journey

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In 2024, six-time Grammy winner Amy Grant found inspiration in a room of her Nashville home following a suggestion from her daughter, Corrina.

“She just said, ‘Where’s your creative space?’” Grant recalled. The room, which housed her artwork, art supplies, a collection of 45s, and an old turntable, transformed into her new creative sanctuary. “My daughter nicknamed the space ‘craftopia,’” she added.

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Since her self-titled debut in 1977, Grant has emerged as a prominent figure in Contemporary Christian music, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, with albums like Age to Age and Heart in Motion. Her crossover hits, including the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Baby Baby,” and numerous GMA Dove Awards underscore her influence.

However, it had been over a decade since her last album of original music, 2013’s How Mercy Looks From Here. While touring, Grant faced significant health challenges, including open-heart surgery in 2020 and recovery from a bicycle accident in 2022 that led to a traumatic brain injury.

In her new creative space, Grant began writing lyrics for her upcoming album, The Me That Remains, set to release on May 8. The title track reflects on her recent healing journey and her resolve to embrace life’s stages. The lyrics convey a raw honesty: “Life cut me wide open when my head hit the ground/ Wasn’t my time for dying.”

Grant noted, “The very first lyric I wrote for this record, I thought it was a poem, but at that time I was having pretty substantial short-term memory issues. Lyrics were easy because it’s written down, but music is tough. So I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this by myself.’ But in a beautiful way, our limitations create our path.”

She teamed up with writers and fellow musicians, including her husband, Vince Gill, along with Michael W. Smith, Tom Douglas, Mike Reid, and Mac McAnally, a ten-time CMA musician of the year known for his work with Jimmy Buffett.

By January 2025, Grant returned to the studio with only a plan to record a couple of songs. “It felt so organic and like, ‘Man, that was fun. I haven’t done that in a long time,” she explained. Working with McAnally, they recorded songs over the following months, resulting in a surprise album of ten tracks.

The album features personal reflections, such as “The Me That Remains,” and songs that explore relationships, including “‘Til We Get It Right.” Grant’s work also examines societal themes. One notable collaboration is “How Do We Get There From Here,” created with Ruby Amanfu in response to the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, addressing accountability, communication, and grief.

Grant shared, “A lot of artists and songwriters were invited to go and just say, ‘Is there anything we can use our platform to help shift?’” Reflecting on their legislative discussions, she remarked, “I thought, ‘How does anybody get anything done?’ But I think so many times schools of thought or a change in the way someone sees something comes through the arts.”

After initial exchanges about the song, Grant and Amanfu continued their collaboration, eventually aligning their schedules for studio sessions. “It was just like our orbits were so different but for a minute the planets aligned. And I’ve so enjoyed getting to know her,” said Grant.

Additional contributors to the album include Gill on “Friend Like You,” Smith co-writing “The Saint,” and Grant’s daughters, Corrina and Sarah Cannon, who join her on the closing track “The Other Side of Goodbye,” which delves into the loss of Grant’s mother in 2011.

“The other side of goodbye can be all kinds of things, but at some point I just thought about my mom,” Grant reflected. She aimed to capture the experience of witnessing her mother’s passing, stating, “When somebody finishes their life, can we high-five them?”

The Me That Remains was finalized about six months before its release, with Grant seeking a partner that prioritized meaningful dialogue in the arts. “I think we were trying to find a partner that was really interested in creating conversation,” she noted, expressing satisfaction with her collaboration with Thirty Tigers.

Despite a 13-year gap between albums, Grant does not anticipate a lengthy wait for her next project. “I don’t know that I’ve got a whole record right now, but I have a lot of songs I’m working on,” she revealed.