Capitol CMG

Release Date: June 16th 2023

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Riley Clemmons– Miracle (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

1. Miracle

Bursting on the scene when she was just 18 years old, Riley Clemmons wowed us all with her duet with Social Club Misfits called “Misfit Anthem”, then her debut solo single “Broken Prayers” via Capitol Christian Music Group, and also her self-titled debut album in August 2018. And from these impacting and compelling melodies, there’s absolutely no doubt that Riley has an extremely bright future ahead of her, as she steps into the doors God has opened for her. Still relatively new in the CCM industry; I think the first time I heard her voice on the radio (or internet or wherever you can hear music these days), was with Fern and Marty from Social Club on “Misfit Anthem” early in 2017. Since then, Riley’s music has been a revelation- and you can read my brother’s review of Riley Clemmons’ debut album here; but now the time has come for brand new music. Since Riley’s debut album, she unveiled the singles “Fighting For Me”, “Free”, “Over And Over”, “Healing” and “Keep On Hoping” (you can read those reviews here, here, here, here and here!); while Riley also released her sophomore album Godsend (as well as a deluxe edition of the album reviewed here!). Jon also blogged about Riley’s burgeoning influence in a blog last year; and he also voiced his thoughts on Riley’s latest single “Headspace”. We also reviewed “For The Good”, a worshipful single released last year (we actually reviewed the single twice- once as a song and another as an EP!); while early this year, Riley unveiled to us a brand-new single “Loved By You”, a direct and vertical worship song directed to God about His unending, undeniable, unquenching and unbridled love for us!

So soon after “For The Good”, so soon after Godsend and the deluxe edition of the same album; here we were with “Loved By You”- you can read our thoughts on the song here. And so, now we are presented with a new single this past week- Riley’s latest “Miracle” is a resounding and compelling piano led ballad outlining the simplicity and the wonderful feeling of a miracle through falling in love with someone. Is Riley singing about maybe a boyfriend that the world doesn’t know about- not that it’s any of our business? Or is she singing about a best friend, her parents, a mentor, or perhaps a baby she’s the godparent of? Or maybe a pet like a dog or a cat? Regardless, the melody is a reassuring, inspiring, encouraging and vibrant melody filled with hope and a sense of honesty and vulnerability; and as Riley eloquently and passionately cries out that ‘…I used to think miracles had to be water turned to wine or the parting of a sea, but when I look in your eyes I see heaven break through, and it’s making me believe my miracle is you…somehow you were the answer to all the prayers I prayed, I guess that’s what they meant by ‘mysterious ways’…’; we are reminded that miracles can occur anywhere- and that it doesn’t matter if they aren’t flash or grandiose either. A person can be a miracle to us. And as such, we all need a hopeful and powerful song like this to get us going! With Riley Clemmons also having released powerful and impacting music videos for quite a number of her singles; I believe that the only way to go for Riley is up and up. Hopefully Riley will be the next name on everyone’s lips in maybe both Christian and mainstream markets very soon… So what more can I say? That Riley’s soothing and captivating voice makes me want to listen to her debut project and her sophomore project over and over until her third full length album releases sometime this year or next year? Because it does! So, check out this brand new single pronto! Well done, Riley, can’t wait for more and more new music!

Honestly, I think it’s all too easy to get so busy and distracted that we forget to notice and appreciate the every day miracles we get to experience in this lifetime, and some of the most beautiful miracles I’ve ever experienced have been through people. “Miracle” was inspired by falling in love in such a beautiful and pure way that I found myself being drawn closer to the heart of God. It was very important to me from the beginning of the writing process for this album that I share a piece of that part of my life through a love song.

After sharing a snippet of the song on social media, I was moved by the “miracle” stories being shared about different people’s love stories, miracle babies, family members, friends… the list goes on. I’m truly excited to watch a song that was born from such a sacred and personal season of my life continue to be welcomed into the lives of people all over the world. I’m so excited to finally share “Miracle” with y’all.

Score: 5/5

RIYL: Lauren Alaina, Francesca Battistelli, Selena Gomez, Lauren Daigle, Britt Nicole