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Kelowna country singer tackles past relationships, moving on in new song

Karen Lee Batten wants to encourage listeners that better days are ahead
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It gets better.

That’s what Karen Lee Batten wants people to know when they listen to her new track titled Drinkin’ Song. The Kelowna singer said she doesn’t usually write or sing about past relationships but somehow, she and some friends started talking about them and inspiration just struck.

“There were some funny stories that popped up about a past relationship that I had and one thing led to another,” she said.

“One of my writer friends just looked at me and was like ‘oh no, we’re writing about this’.”

Batten said it’s good to be able to look back at some of the hard times and be able to laugh about them now.

“For me, I think of this song as a reminder that it doesn’t stay bad forever. You can come out of it and write something fun and a bit of a party tune and know that life has moved on.”

She said while the song is about better times after a heartbreak, it’s also aimed at anyone who wants a positive spin, especially as we live through a global pandemic.

“I think that at this point in everybody’s life, most of the world is even feeling like this, we all just want that fun drinking song,” she said.

“We can move on from hard things and we’re able to have fun with it later, and it doesn’t last forever. And in the middle of what we’re in right now, it’s just fun to have this anthem tune, which I hope I can play on stage for people soon.”

Batten said they were very lucky to have been able to write and record the song right before restrictions came down in March 2020. She said she thought filming the music video would also be a challenge, but things turned out better than she expected.

“Shooting the video was definitely a teeter-totter and a bit of a learning curve. We had to make sure we were following public health orders… we got creative,” she said.

“I had to make sure that if I was going to have people in the video, that they were in my bubble. So it was family members and best friends of mine who have been in my bubble and have been around all this time.

“This is the first time that I’ve shot a video where every single person in it is not an actor. They’re all people I love, which is a cool twist on this one.”

The single will go to radio on Monday, April 26.

For more information on Batten’s music, visit her website.

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twila.amato@blackpress.ca

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Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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