Backstory
Sell My Soul is a deeply personal song about staying true to yourself and having the courage to walk away when something doesn’t feel right.
I wrote the song in 2008 after deciding to leave the X Factor audition queue and go home! I realised that although I wanted to make music and share my songs with the world, I didn’t want to be moulded into something I wasn’t. I knew I was more of a songwriter than a singer, and what mattered most to me was being able to tell my own stories, and remain in control of my creative identity.
The experience became the inspiration for the song. The song explores the crossroads between ambition and authenticity - the temptation to accept success, money, recognition, or opportunity at the expense of who you really are. The young person dreaming of a future and believing that perhaps giving up yourself might be harmless, the older person - feeling that time is running out.
The chorus is a statement of independence and determination: “I won’t sell my soul, I won’t lose control.” It reflects the decision I had made to walk away rather than allow someone else to define my future or shape me into an artist I didn’t want to become.
Lyrics
Verse one
I’m just a boy looking at the world
Working on my dreams for my story to be told
Knowing there’s no silence, feeling kind of old
Looking to my future, but I won’t sell my soul
I’m just a girl waiting at the crossroads
Do I go left or right, do I walk away or fight?
Knowing there’s no silence, feeling kind of old
Looking to my future, I won’t sell my soul
Chorus
No I won’t sell my soul to you or the world
You won’t know the difference, no matter what you’re told
I won’t sell my soul, I won’t lose control
I’ll stand up and be counted, but
I won’t sell my soul
Verse two
I’m just a kid, waiting to grow up
Thinking life is easy and there’s nothing hard enough
Never hearing silence, feeling no need to hide
Looking for tomorrow, time is on my side
And I don’t see no harm in selling on my soul
You wouldn’t know the difference in losing all control
I don’t see no harm in signing over life
Give me all the money and I’ll give them all my rights
Chorus
No I won’t sell my soul to you or the world
You won’t know the difference, no matter what you’re told
I won’t sell my soul, I won’t lose control
I’ll stand up and be counted, but
I won’t sell my soul