Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, rising star Bailey Hefley mends a broken heart and regains her sparkle in the 2019 release, “Dust on a Diamond.”
When the song begins, the 27-year-old Little Rock native is looking into a mirror “crying black mascara rain.” A failed relationship has her feeling defeated and questioning her self-worth, but then she gathers the strength to fight back and affirm that she was always “good enough.” Her former boyfriend’s actions can not define her. She’s a diamond. He was just the dust that kept her from shining.
She sings, “You’re a diamond / You were trying to shine for a blind man / Wasting all your pretty and your tears on a man who was picking up pennies / With a dime in his hand baby don’t spend any more / Time on tryna figure out whatcha did wrong / I know you thought it was love / But it was lying, that boy was dust / Dust on a diamond.”
On her official website, Hefley described the events that led her to co-write “Dust on a Diamond” with Marti Dodson and Linda Greene.
“I went through a really difficult breakup with a guy that I think a lot of girls can relate to,” noted Hefley. “It totally tore me apart. I was in school and I was trying to study and I can remember taking my notebook and just trying to write in the margin little notes to myself. I was so distracted by the fact that I couldn’t move on from this guy. I was so broken and I didn’t believe in myself. I would write little positive notes to myself in the margin and then stand up and go look in the mirror in my bathroom and just cry. As embarrassing as that is, I would just cry and with tears streaming down my face, red eyes, looking in the mirror, saying, ‘You are gonna be okay. You’re good enough. This doesn’t define you.’”
Shortly after going through this emotional trauma, Hefley had a friend who was experiencing a very similar situation. She remembered thinking, “Maybe that’s why God put me through all that pain. I kept wondering why I had to go through it. And then the thought dawned on me that maybe I can help more than just this other girl. Maybe I can write a song about it and help a lot of girls. Maybe I can write the song I wish I had when I was in that place.”
“Dust on a Diamond” is the lead single from Hefley’s six-song, soon-to-be-released EP titled Hopeful Romantic.
Her diary-style storytelling was influenced by a childhood marred by debilitating seizures. The powerful medication that kept her alive also left her in a state of perpetual lethargy. As a teenager, she overcame her condition and felt awake for the first time.
“I spent eight years of my life standing back and observing people and watching life from the outside because I was so medicated,” Hefley said. “Naturally, I’m a very extroverted person, but during those eight years, I developed a quality of seeing what’s around me. I think it gave me depth and made me a much stronger person.”
Hefley’s mentor, singer-songwriter Bobby Pinson, helped teach her to channel those experiences into her music.
After studying voice at Nashville’s Belmont University from 2009–2010 and continuing her degree at the University of Arkansas from 2010–2012, Bailey moved to Music City for good in 2012.
Please check out the video of Hefley’s acoustic version of “Dust on a Diamond.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Dust on a Diamond”
Written by Bailey Hefley, Marti Dodson and Linda Greene. Performed by Bailey Hefley.
All the pretty girls looking in the mirror
Crying black mascara rain
Cause of some pretty boy’s sweet words
That don’t mean anything
Girl you thought you were the only one
Gave your heart up to a hit and run
Now you’re thinking you’re not good enough
But you’re good enough
You were good enough
You’re a diamond
You were trying to shine for a blind man
Wasting all your pretty and your tears on a man who was picking up pennies
With a dime in his hand baby don’t spend any more
Time on tryna figure out whatcha did wrong
I know you thought it was love
But it was lying, that boy was dust
Dust on a diamond
All the broken girls picking up the pieces
From the mess he left you in
Trying to stop your heart from beating so you never fall again
He ain’t gonna be the end of you
He’s just something that you’re going through
One day you’re gonna know that it’s true
That you’re good enough
He wasn’t good enough
You’re a diamond
You were trying to shine for a blind man
Wasting all your pretty and your tears on a man who was picking up pennies
With a dime in his hand baby don’t spend any more
Time on tryna figure out whatcha did wrong
I know you thought it was love
But it was lying, that boy was dust
Dust on a diamond
Get up stand up shake the dust right off your shoulders
Hold head your head up girl you’re better off it’s over (woah)
You’re a diamond
You were trying to shine for a blind man
Wasting all your pretty and your tears on a man who was picking up pennies
With a dime in his hand baby don’t spend any more
Time on tryna figure out whatcha did wrong
I know you thought it was love
But it was lying, that boy was dust
Dust on a diamond
Oh you were dust
Yeah you were
You were
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.