Story Behind the Song: Brandy Clark, ‘I’ll Be the Sad Song’

Brandy Clark's Your Life is a Record is a heartbreak project through and through. With the exception of a couple more lighthearted moments, the project examines every stage of a breakup, from the grief that immediately follows heartbreak to the resigned reflectiveness that comes through healing.

Nowhere is the album's theme more apparent than in "I'll Be the Sad Song," a track that tells the story of leaving someone behind -- and being grateful that, at the very least, they were a part of your life for a little while. Below, Clark explains how she and her co-writers came up with the idea for the song, and why it's such a special part of the record.

I wrote that song with Jessie Jo [Dillon] and Chase McGill, and that was a song idea that Jessie brought in.

I love a sad song. Clearly, when everybody hears this record, that's gonna be very obvious. There are two songs on here with a little levity, so that no one slits their wrists, but the rest of it's pretty sad.

I loved that idea: You know, probably to all but one person you encounter in your life, you are their sad song, and they're yours. I've definitely been somebody's sad song. I've had a few people that have been my sad song. So, it's interesting.