Video Premiere: Jess Nolan Spreads "A Little Light" Throughout Nashville

Jess Nolan’s latest single, “A Little Light,” is bursting at the seams with the desire to spread kindness, and the song’s music video, a partnership with Nashville’s Project Love Strong, truly shines a little light in her community.

After releasing her long-awaited debut LP in August, singer-songwriter Jess Nolan closed out the year 2020 with singles “A Little Light / Change,” two songs bursting at the seams with the desire to spread kindness and hold onto hope. On the music video for the former, Nolan partnered with Nashville nonprofit Project Love Strong, turning that desire into earnest action: truly shining a little light in her community.

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music video for Jess Nolan’s December 2020 single, “A Little Light.” Originally from central New Jersey, Nolan now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she’s been steadily writing poems and turning them into songs for the last several years. And her latest release, “A Little Light,” is a gentle and sure message of hope.

Everyone deserves a chance
To stretch up for a higher ground
Even just the slightest glimpse
Of warmth should be passed around

“I first started [writing ‘A Little Light’] back when I read the news that children at the Mexico/U.S.border were being separated from their parents. The winter season was beginning, and I wrote it to send some hope out to those families,” Nolan says, “I’d held on to the song for a couple years, and after watching coverage of Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother, speaking to news outlets this past summer, I finished the lyrics effortlessly.”

Oh this winter’s gonna be a cold one I hear
I wish you all a little light

Self-produced with the help of Ian Miller, “A Little Light” is a glimmer of warmth in the midst of winter, carried by the piano and embellished with sounds of togetherness and life: the clinking of glasses in a room full of friends, deep breaths. Though the concept of “being together” has looked different during the pandemic, Nolan found a way to spread hope even still – through the song’s music video.

But you can find it in a child’s eyes
The wonder of unending hope
And it’s there within an open mind
Where the anger can not grow

Directed by Jacqueline Justice, the video for “A Little Light” opens with interview-style clips of members of the Nashville community sharing what “spreading light” means to them. And as the song begins, dancer Kelly Eberle lights candles and leaves them on the doorsteps of friends’ houses, spreading light and warmth in a literal sense, and exuding a sense of peace. Yet, the video also takes on a bigger meaning, as it highlights Nashville nonprofit Project Love Strong. Founded by Jeshiqua White, the project helps provide necessities to the city’s homeless community; for Nolan, making the video coincided with a call to the music community to donate winter essentials to PLS’ annual “Hoodies for the Homeless” drive.

Grace can be the greatest gift
So give it till there’s nothing left

Despite a winter that has been longer and lonelier than most, Jess Nolan found a way to make a difference through her music, and by spreading a little light when and where she was able. To experience the beauty of Nolan’s artistry and to learn more about Project Love Strong, stream the video for “A Little Light” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!

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