A soulful, spiritually charged anthem of grief, growth, and surrender, Emily Elbert’s “God Is Change” radiates raw emotion, quiet strength, and stunning sonic heat as the guitarist’s guitarist channels Octavia Butler’s words of wisdom into a cathartic, all-consuming reckoning – an intimate, nuanced reflection on impermanence, inner peace, resilience, and the human capacity to endure and evolve.
Stream: “God Is Change” – Emily Elbert
To endure is to evolve.
That’s the message at the core of Emily Elbert’s latest song – a meditation on transformation, resilience, and the sacred act of surrender. Inspired by grief, shaped by nature, and steeped in spiritual reflection, “God Is Change” speaks to the chrysalis moments in life – the ones that demand we let go in order to grow.
Through fire, through loss, through uncertainty, we emerge. And through it all, we are changed.
God is change
God is the wind
I learn over and over again
Tender rain and thunderstorms
Cleanse my soul til I’m reborn
Light my path and guide my hand
So I may hear the song of the land
Offering up my heart in prayer
Spirit moving everywhere
Love sing through me
Still my mind and move my body
Love sing through me
Help me to be free
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “God Is Change,” the radiant and revelatory new single and music video from genre-shifting singer/songwriter and guitarist Emily Elbert. Out now via Metropolitan Groove Merchants, “God Is Change” marks Elbert’s first release of 2025 and a powerful continuation of the intimate, introspective storytelling she brought to her latest album, 2022’s Woven Together. A heavily sought-after collaborator and “guitarist’s guitarist,” Elbert’s enviable resume includes playing in the touring bands of artists like Leon Bridges, Jacob Collier, and Jenny Lewis, as well as performances alongside Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, and Esperanza Spalding – but her solo music reveals a deeply personal world unto itself.
A smoldering, seductive, and soulful reverie, “God Is Change” aches with grief and breathes with hope.
Elbert sings hot on the mic over grooving guitars and pulsing drums, her voice soaked in soul, searing with emotion. It’s raw and emotionally charged; tender and achingly evocative. Bluesy and bruised, yet burning with a quiet, grounded strength, “God Is Change” doesn’t just reckon with the inevitability of change – it surrenders to it, offering up pain and peace in equal measure. It’s a song of metamorphosis and meaning, humility and healing – and it may be one of Elbert’s most moving and masterful works to date. With “God is Change,” she distills spiritual surrender into song, crafting a cathartic groove-based anthem that’s as physically entrancing as it is emotionally and existentially profound.
Even when my soul is weary
Let me open
Leaning into layers peeling
Let me open
Both an offering and teaching
Even pain revealing paths to love
Love, love
“‘God is Change,’ for me, is about the painful but necessary process of transformation and evolution,” Elbert tells Atwood Magazine. “The chrysalis, the emergence. I started writing it in a period of grief and confusion, seeking a way forward. The title was inspired by one of my favorite authors, Octavia Butler, who said ‘All that you touch, you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change.’ These words, the wisdom behind them… they felt like a balm and a beckoning. So writing this song was an act of surrender, and an ask for support.”
That sense of surrender pulses throughout the song. “God is change, God is the wind, I learn over and over again,” Elbert sings in the chorus, her voice reverberating like a prayer, or a mantra. Her lyrics read like scripture channeled from the soul: Poetic, elemental, intimate. “Feed my form into the flame, knowing I’ll be born again.” There’s release and renewal here – a recognition that pain and beauty are part of the same sacred cycle. It’s a sentiment made all the more poignant by the real-life story behind the song’s creation.
“The song started when I was on a solo camping trip,” Elbert explains. “Alone in the forest, I felt more able to find a mental and spiritual quietude, and listen to nature and my intuition. In the middle of a hike, I sat down with my journal, and tried to just let the song come through me, and to get out of the way as best I could. Most of it came then.”
That creative spark returned again weeks later, as she walked a familiar trail in the Angeles National Forest overlooking her town of Altadena. “That verse – ‘feed my form into the flame, knowing I’ll be born again’ – reaches more of an emotionally charged state. I didn’t know it then, but months later, that forest, my home, and much of my town burned in the Eaton Fire.” Elbert’s home was among those lost in the blaze – a devastating personal loss that deepened the song’s resonance and layered its lyrics with raw, real-world poignancy.
“In a wild full-circle twist of fate, it was also the hometown of Octavia Butler, who inspired the title. The lyrics took on a much deeper and more poignant meaning to me then, and sharing this song has felt like a part of my grief process, and my healing process as well,” Elbert reflects. “The concept of surrendering to the inevitability of transformation now hits more deeply than ever.”
God is change
God is the wind
I learn over and over again
Birth and praise to death and grief
There in struggle and relief
On my knees I fall apart
Make an altar of my heart
Feed my form into the flame
Knowing I’ll be born again
Musically, “God is Change” mirrors that emotional alchemy.
The arrangement is spacious and swirling – a psychedelic soul groove that recalls the likes of Brittany Howard, Lianne La Havas, and Say She She. Anchored by deep pocket drums, warm bass, and rich guitar textures, the track pulses with a hypnotic, meditative energy. Elbert’s voice – both commanding and vulnerable – drifts effortlessly through the mix, while ethereal flourishes from an Omnichord and Juno add just the right amount of shimmer and surrealism.
“It feels quite important to me that both the process and finished recording are a reflection of my life and values, and ‘God is Change’ really represents that,” Elbert reflects. “I got to create it with dear friends, and record it in a way that felt very alive, connected, and organic. The beating heart of the tune is people who care about each other making music in a room, with a few more off-kilter instruments in the mix to add a tiny bit of surreality… The whole process of creating the song felt important to my evolution as a person – a cultivation of trust; finding strength through vulnerability.”
The result is a song that feels at once grounding and transcendent. It’s a gentle reminder that change, while painful, can also be sacred – and that there is beauty in becoming. The music video, directed with equal parts grace and reverence, captures this ethos in visual form: Elbert in nature, surrounded by wind and water, moving through the landscape with intention and presence.
“For me, this song can feel like a bit of a mantra – I can sing the chorus when I need the message, and it helps me,” Elbert smiles. “But it’s also a groove-based thing meant to feel good in the body. So hopefully, it can meet folks wherever they’re at. I’m grateful to be able to share it.”
Love sing through me
Still my mind and move my body
Love sing through me
Help me to be free
Therein lies the magic of “God is Change.”
It’s deeply personal and yet universally resonant – a musical offering that holds space for grief, growth, and grace. Elbert doesn’t pretend to have the answers; instead, she invites us to sit in the questions with her. To sing through the sorrow. To make an altar of the heart. And to remember that, even in the fire, we are not alone.
Stream Emily Elbert’s “God is Change” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for more from this extraordinary artist as she continues to evolve, expand, and inspire.
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