Entertainment
America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer act Nightbirde reveals heartbreaking inspiration behind It’s Okay: ‘I was given months to live and then my marriage ended’
The second Jane ‘Nightbirde’ Marczewski began singing her original song, It’s Okay, during her headline-making audition, it was clear she would be a shining star on season 16 of America’s Got Talent.
Indeed, the singer had the judges, audience, and viewers at home close to tears as she sang the poignant lyrics after revealing her ongoing battle with cancer.
The Ohio native reluctantly explained to Simon Cowell, Howie Mandell, Sofia Vergara, and Heidi Klum that she had been through a tough couple of years after battling cancer in her ‘lungs, spine and liver.’
Determined not to have a battle be seen as a ‘sob story’, Nightbirde insisted she was powering through her 2% survival rate diagnosis and wanted to use her life struggles to inspire her music.
In many ways, it came as no surprise to some viewers when the buzz-worthy performance led to a flurry of digital sales which saw Nightbirde’s track top the US iTunes sales chart.
As fans resonated with the powerful lyrics about feeling lost and realizing we all go through hard times in life, Nightbirde opened up to Metro.co.uk about the gut-wrenching moment that inspired the single.
She explained: ‘My life has, honestly, just impossibly tragic over the last few years. I have gone through cancer three times. At my worst, I was given three to six months to live and a 2% chance of survival.
‘On top of all that, I then realize my marriage is ending. The next thing I know, I’m going through a divorce while fighting this disease.’
The singer tied the know with fellow musician Jeremy Claudio back in 2015, before he called time on their union in 2020.
The star explained how the hits just kept on coming as she continued: ‘I then move across the country to look for some miracle treatment that I don’t actually have money to pay for. It felt like everything fell apart.
‘Later that year, I suffered a catatonic mental breakdown where I did not speak, or eat or move from bed for three months. I lost 80 pounds again and that point, I really believed that I was going to die.’
Taking a deep breath, she stated: ‘It’s wild to think about it because that was only four months ago, when I was at my worst and really believing that I was going to die.
‘It was in that moment when I wrote the song, because I was having a hard time. Unaware that things get worse before they would get better.’
Explaining why she chose the phase, ‘It’s Okay’, she explained that it’s some she has found herself saying out loud to herself constantly over the past 12 months.
‘So then it became a song that I would listen back to so that I could hear that stronger part of myself, that more resolute and unmovable part of myself, singing it back to me,’ the 30-year-old explained. ‘The message that “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s okay. Everyone’s lost. It’s okay.”‘
She added: ‘This song means so much, it’s my story. It’s my life. It’s the story that I’m still in and apparently, everyone else was in a story like that too, in their own way.’
Indeed, the reaction to her song has taken the star by surprise as she told us: The success of the song is bigger and way more than I could have ever imagined.
‘The audition was great in person and that alone was an amazing day. But then the ultimate test would be to see whether real people everywhere else would respond as the same way they did in that room’
The singer gushed: ‘I could have never predicted this type of response. It’s just beautiful.
‘It’s an honor and I’m overwhelmed and exhausted in the best possible way that a person can be exhausted. It’s just so amazing.’
America’s Got Talent continues Tuesdays on NBC, while it is available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
Nightbirde – It’s Okay lyrics
I moved to California in the summer time
I changed my name thinking that it would change my mind
I thought that all my problems they would stay behind
I was a stick of dynamite and it was just a matter of time, yeah
All day, all night, now I can’t hide
Said I knew myself but I guess I lied
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright
I wrote a hundred pages but I burned them all
(Yeah, I burned them all)
I drove through yellow lights and don’t look back at all
I don’t look back at all
Yeah, you can call me reckless, I’m a cannonball (uh, I’m a cannonball)
Don’t know why I take the tightrope and cry when I fall
All day, all night, now I can’t hide
Said I knew what I wanted but I guess I lied
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright
It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright
Oh-oh-oh-oh, it’s alright
Oh-oh-oh-oh, it’s alright
Oh-oh-oh-oh, it’s alright
Oh-oh-oh-oh, it’s alright
To be lost sometimes
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay
If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright
Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.
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