Welcome to Music Friday, when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, British singer-songwriter Andreya Triana turns one of jewelry’s most enduring treasures into a metaphor for the things that make life truly rich. In her soulful 2015 song “Gold,” Triana celebrates the everyday moments, relationships and experiences that shine with a value all their own.
The song’s central message is beautifully simple: What matters most in life isn’t necessarily what looks the most impressive or expensive. Triana uses gold as a metaphor for happiness, gratitude, freedom, music and the small moments that make life meaningful.
She sings, “It all feels like gold, gold to me.”
She describes opening her eyes and seeing “so much beauty,” celebrating a new sense of possibility after difficult times. The song also reflects Triana’s love of music and the joy she finds in singing. Its infectious, layered vocals and rhythmic chant make the message feel less like a philosophical lesson and more like an invitation to join the celebration.
“Gold” was released as the lead single from Triana’s second studio album, Giants, in March of 2015. The album blended soul, electronic music and other influences around Triana’s distinctive voice.
More than four years later, “Gold” found a new audience when Nissan selected it for its 2020 Versa advertising campaign. The “Good Morning, Goodnight” commercial followed a couple whose opposite work schedules leave them crossing paths as one begins the day and the other ends it — a fitting visual companion to a song about finding richness in ordinary life. The campaign began airing in 2019 as part of the launch of the redesigned Versa.
Now 39, Triana’s path to stardom began when she was a child in London. She started singing at age seven, experimenting with harmonies using cassette decks, and by 17 was performing at open-mic nights. Her adventurous musical approach eventually led to an invitation to the Red Bull Music Academy in Australia in 2006. She went on to collaborate with artists including Flying Lotus and Bonobo, whose production helped shape her critically acclaimed 2010 debut album, Lost Where I Belong.
Today, Triana continues to pursue her music independently, balancing creative work with motherhood and developing new material. And, perhaps, that is the enduring appeal of “Gold”: Its definition of wealth has nothing to do with how much something costs. Sometimes the richest moments are simply the ones that make us stop, look around and realize that life is already shining and beautiful.
Please check out audio track of Triana performing “Gold.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Gold”
Written by Dee Adam, Alex “Cores” Hayes, Andreya Triana and Hannah Vasanth. Performed by Andreya Triana.
Lord only knows this heart is free
A brand new day is at my feet
Now sing it low, low and sweet
I give it more soul, I give it all of me
It all feels like gold (gold), gold to me (gold)
It might not be diamonds, but it shines for me
It all feels like gold (gold), gold to me (gold)
It ain’t lost in silence, it’s all good to me
Sing it
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, gold
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Simple things that light me up
What a beautiful world, and I see the love
And everything, and everyone
When I’m digging softly
Oh the time will come
It all feels like gold (gold), gold to me (gold)
It might not be diamonds, but it shines for me
It all feels like gold (gold), gold to me (it's gold to me)
It ain’t lost in silence, it’s all good to me
Sing it
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, gold
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Open my eyes, I see there’s so much beauty
There’s so much more then I ever believed
Hard touching the sky when the angels keep fallin'
And it’s all good to me, it’s all good to me
It all feels like gold, gold to me
It might not be diamonds, but it shines for me
It all feels like gold (gold), gold to me (it's gold to me)
It ain’t lost in silence, it’s all good to me
Sing it
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, gold
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
It all feels like gold, gold to me (Yeah, yeah)
It ain’t lost in silence, it’s all good to me (Yeah, yeah, gold)
It all feels like gold, all gold to me (Yeah, yeah)
It ain’t lost in silence, it’s all good to me (Yeah, yeah, gold)
It’s all good to me
All good to me
All good to me
So good to me
Credit: Photo by Paul Hudson from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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