Cassandra Coleman is wholeheartedly herself on her debut single. After baring her soul on the popular televised singing competition, American Idol, four years ago, the 29-year-old singer finds herself pouring her heart out on her deep, confessional debut, “Coming of Age.”
With shimmering guitars and gauzy strings, Coleman’s warm vocals feel like a soft embrace that leaves you feeling safe. The song, recorded live, is intimately her, as Coleman dives right in and lets all her inhibitions go to show what she’s learned as she closes a chapter to open a new door. She sings, “And I know it’s just outside my grasp, I’m / letting go of the past, I’m / finding my own way.”
Coleman admits her past to us, saying she’s “not a perfect lover” and that she’s “learning to love [herself],” as she works towards “forgiving [her] mistakes” and “wait with grace.” It’s honest, nearly epic in a sense that Coleman builds gracefully into such a powerful chorus and post-chorus in each verse. In a final admission, she sings, “It feels like it might be a coming of age.”
About her confessional debut single, Coleman explains,
“From a young age I had big dreams, but because of my faith and how I grew up, I worried it would be detrimental to my spirit to think too much of myself — for a long time, I made myself small because that felt safe. But at some point all that shifted, and I knew I had to let go of certain things and walk into the newest version of me. That’s what ‘Coming of Age’ sounds like to me: a feeling of everything opening up, and so many new possibilities revealing themselves.”
