You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe.

Adrienne Lanker is a singer and songwriter. She's the lead singer of the One, two, three, four.

Adrienne Lanker is a singer and songwriter.

She's the lead singer of the critically acclaimed and beloved band Big Thief,

and her work as a solo artist is also critically acclaimed and beloved.

Her most recent solo album, Bright Future,

was named one of the best albums of 2024 by The New Yorker, Stereo Gum, and More, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk album. It was co-produced by Adrienne and longtime collaborator

Philip Weinrope, and I talked to the two of them about the making of one of my favorite songs from it,

Sadness is a Gift. You and I both know there is nothing more to say.

Chances shutters shining eyes and turned her face away.

Lean it on the window sill. You could write me someday and I think you will.

We could see the sadness as a gift and still feel too heavy to hold.

Could you tell me when sadness as a gift first started coming to you?

How the idea for the song first entered your mind?

Well, I had gone through a breakup and my heart was aching a lot.

I had this therapist for a little while.

And he was actually the one who first planted the idea in my mind that that sadness you feel is actually just an indication of your love.

You wouldn't feel that sadness or that longing without having this great love inside of you.

And that sadness is an indicator of how strongly you feel and felt. So it kind of flipped my

way of thinking about sadness. And years later, when I was going through this heartbreak,

I was feeling that like, yes, this is a loss, but therein lies the gift of feeling how powerfully I love.

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