If you’ve ever felt you were on the outside looking in, Nancy Hope sees you. In fact, she’s even written a song for you. On her new single, “Sidelines,” the 27-year-old singer-songwriter from Stoney Creek, Ontario, captures the transformative moment at which someone who’s let herself skulk in the shadows for too long decides to step into the light.

“Sidelines, I know that’s where I hide/ To let everyone shine but not me,” she croons, over a plaintive piano melody that pulls straight at the heartstrings. “Fantasize about what it’d be like/ To be in the centre for the world to see.”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/1XDbM70gsRSyAHETwsfpcA

The fantasy becomes reality as the track swells into full-on power-ballad mode, with Hope’s impassioned delivery matching her resolve that the time to make her move is now:

’Cause I feel pretty, I feel myself
Sent those demons straight back to hell
If I lose my way, I can ask for help
I know I said tomorrow, but today is the day that
I, I know who I am
And who I’m meant to be
No more standing on the sidelines for me

Hope says the song was inspired by an eating disorder she struggled with during her late teens and early 20s. But the lyric is quite intentionally broader —generalized enough to make the track an instant, all-purpose anthem for anybody who’s been needing that little push to go from being a spectator in their own life to an active participant.

“Although ‘Sidelines’ was a song written from my own experience, I know we have all felt this way at some point in our lives, and some more seriously than others,” she says. “This song is not just about the struggle; it is about overcoming it and declaring to never stand on the sidelines again. I think as human beings, we are afraid to be vulnerable, for fear we will be seen as weak. This song is saying it is OK to be vulnerable and ask for help, because that’s what makes us human.”

Hope certainly had some help getting “Sidelines” out into the world. She started writing it over Zoom in 2021 with producer Kayla Diamond (Jeanick Fournier, Sofia Camara, Jamie Fine), and was able to bring the project to completion thanks to a FACTOR Artist Development grant she received the very next year. Other organizations that lent their support to make the record a reality include Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters and the Government of Canada and the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities.

To hear Hope tell it, she wouldn’t even have been in a position to sing a survivor’s song if not for the assistance she received years ago from the Hamilton-based eating-disorder charity Body Brave. “They were the beginning of my healing journey,” she says, “and I have such gratitude for the support and love they showed me.”

Three minutes of pure empowerment, “Sidelines” is an undeniable high-water mark in the still-ascendant career of this former music major, who graduated with honours from Humber College in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in voice. Since turning pro, she’s worked with some of the top musicians in Canada, including Rik Emmett of Triumph and David Tyson, producer and co-writer of Alannah Myles’ 1990 hit “Black Velvet.” As a live performer, Hope has sung backup for Lorde at the MuchMusic Video Awards, appeared at the legendary El Mocambo, and belted out the National Anthem at a Toronto Argonauts game. In the midst of it all, she reached the top 100 on Season 2 of Canada’s Got Talent.

She’s been releasing her own music independently ever since graduating from Humber—a campaign championed by collaborator Diamond, who has spent the last two years helping Hope cultivate her musical identity as “the rock star next door.” Which is not to imply that she’s in any way ordinary: One listen to “Sidelines,” and you realize you’re in the presence of a once-in-a-lifetime talent. It’s just that this legend in the making is more than willing to share the spotlight with her audience.

“To anyone who has ever lived on the sidelines of life, I hear you,” she promises. “And I hope this song gives you the courage to never stand there again.”

Nancy would like to extend her gratitude to the funders who have supported this project including FACTOR.

nancyhope.ca