Stevie Nicks has released a powerful new song ‘The Lighthouse’, inspired by the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade – check it out the video below.
The former Fleetwood Mac singer has described the song as “the most important thing I ever do”, a rousing call-to-arms for women to reclaim their reproductive healthcare rights in the US and beyond.
“I have my scars, you have yours / Don’t let them take your power,” she sings softly at the opening of the track. The track swells into a full rock production, with Nicks singing: “They’ll take your soul, they’ll take your power / Unless you save it / And that’s that / Unless you stand up and take it back”.
The song’s accompanying video finds Nicks dressed in black inside the beam of a lighthouse as a night-time storm rages outside, with cutaways to feminist protesters from different eras. Watch it here:
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In a statement released alongside the song, Nicks has said: “I wrote this song a few months after Roe v Wade was overturned. It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘what can we, as a collective force, do about this…’ For me, it was to write a song.
“It took a while because I was on the road. Then early one morning I was watching the news on TV and a certain newscaster said something that felt like she was talking to me ~ explaining what the loss of Roe v Wade would come to mean. I wrote the song the next morning and recorded it that night.
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“That was September 6, 2022. I have been working on it ever since. I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do.’ To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters ~ and the men that love them. This is an anthem.”
In 2022, the US Supreme Court overruled the Roe v Wade decision of 1973 that protected women’s rights to have an abortion. That constitutional right was reversed by the overrule on the grounds that the right to abortion was not “deeply rooted in this nation’s history or tradition”. Several artists, including Madonna, Fiona Apple, Billie Eilish and Lorde have been very outspoken about the controversial decision.
Nicks has also recently urged her fans to “choose the candidate that speaks to you and your beliefs” when voting in the US presidential election.
This is Nicks’ first new music since her 2022 cover of Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’. Prior to that, she released the single ‘Show Them The Way’ in 2020, with Dave Grohl on drums and Greg Kurstin producing. Her last solo album was 2015’s ‘24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault’.
She is due to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live next month alongside host Ariana Grande, where it is likely she will perform ‘The Lighthouse’ live.
Nicks played a headline show at BST Hyde Park 2024 in London this summer, where she was joined onstage by Harry Styles.
She also performed in Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow as part of her 2024 UK and Ireland tour. However, Nicks was forced to postpone her Glasgow and Manchester dates due to a health issue. The star later explained that she had “got this weird infection, and it just went crazy”.