Cade Thompson, a breakout recording artist in the Christian genre, has a song about the “new normal” so many kids face when they walk into the classroom each day.
Every year, it seems, outlets share breaking news of even more school shootings, flashing terrifying images across our screens and instilling fear in the minds of the parents — and children — watching.
Thompson, a singer with Red Street Records, a label founded by Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, faced that same fear as a senior in high school.
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“I remember the fear, the anxiety that started to cripple me,” he told Faithwire during a recent Zoom interview, recalling when his school faced an active-shooter threat. “There was just a lot of unknown.”
Those feelings are all too familiar to so many kids. According to Education Week, there have been 66 school shootings since 2018.
Thankfully, the threat at Thompson’s school in Missouri turned out to be a false alarm. But that didn’t wash away the emotions he was feeling.
He remembered talking to his mom, processing through all that happened.
“I expressed to her that a school shooting threat had been one of my biggest fears growing up,” Thompson said, noting his sister actually had an active shooter at her school when he was just five years old.
Many of those struggles — anxiety, fear, and depression — have become commonplace for so many, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Thompson said he hopes his single, “New Normal,” will serve as a clarion call to those facing similar battles, particularly those crippled by fear of a school shooting.
“To be honest,” he said, “there’s been a few moments this past year where I’ve felt that anxiety, the fear of the unknown of life and what’s ahead. But I do know, in John 16:33, Jesus says, ‘Take heart, for I have overcome the world.’ And He says, ‘When you go through troubles,’ He doesn’t say, ‘If you go through troubles.’”
“That can be hard to hear sometimes,” the recording artist continued. “But that’s also hope, knowing that we have a God who walks with us in our deepest and our darkest moments, and that’s the hope, as Christians, that we can live in.”
In the chorus, Thompson sings, “We’re too young for all this hurting / give us peace, give us peace / we can’t carry all this heavy / give us strength, give us strength / we’re so tired of all the anger / give us love, give us love / we want a new normal / we want a new normal.”
To find that place — that “new normal” — Thompson encouraged listeners to create space for God.
“Our culture is very fast paced, and it can be difficult to keep up,” he said. “I think something I try to do in my life is to establish rhythms of rest, where I can take time, I can shut off the phone, I can be still — and it’s easier said than done. I’m not perfect. I’m still learning that.”
He learned much of that throughout 2020.
Thompson said his faith in God “has grown so much” over the last 12 months. He said he’s “had to really depend on the Lord in a lot of different scenarios, because we can’t do this life on our own strength.”
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As for “New Normal,” the singer said he hopes the song will open listeners’ eyes “to the people around you.”
“That really is our hope for a new normal,” he said. “That’s how we can get there, by focusing on the people around us in our daily lives, whether you’re a believer or not. I think that is so powerful, as we ask God to open up our eyes and to really serve and to live and to love like Jesus does in the Bible.”
Thompson’s song “New Normal” is available on all streaming platforms.