Written for my daughter Harper, “Her Smile (Before the World)” is about holding onto who you are before the world starts telling you who to be. Released on her first birthday, this stripped-down recording is the first chapter of the song’s story.
Her Smile (Before the World)
Some songs are written for the world. This one was written for her.
I wrote “Her Smile” for my daughter Harper before her first birthday. What started as a quiet song between a dad and his little girl became a story about growing up, letting go, and holding onto the person you were before the world told you who to be.
Never let anyone dull your flame.
Listen to "Her Smile (Before the World)"
The story behind "Her Smile (Before the World)"
It Started With Her
Before there was a release, a campaign, or a plan, there was just a dad, his daughter, and a guitar.
I wrote “Her Smile” for my daughter Harper while she was still a baby. She was right there with me while I was writing, and the idea was simple: somehow, no matter what kind of day I was having, seeing her smile could make everything else disappear.
I wasn’t trying to write a single or build a campaign. I was just trying to put that feeling into a song.
Then I Pulled It
Sometimes the hardest thing you can do for a song is admit it isn’t finished.
An early version of “Her Smile” was being considered for This Side of Heaven. Then I got feedback that it sounded too much like another song.
The hard part was, I agreed.
So I pulled it from the album. What followed were months of second-guessing, rebuilding, production ideas, and trying to figure out what the song actually wanted to be.
Finding My Way Back
The more I tried to make the song bigger, the further I got from why I wrote it.
I tried different production ideas, different directions, and different ways of rebuilding the song. Somewhere along the way, I realized the answer wasn’t in adding more.
Underneath all of it was still the same thing that had been there from the beginning: a dad, an acoustic guitar, and a song for his little girl.
When Harper heard it and responded to it herself, that was all the confirmation I needed.
Before the World
Thirty-one days of telling the story led back to the reason it existed in the first place.
For 31 days, I shared the story of “Her Smile” publicly. The early demo, the criticism, pulling it from the album, the rebuilding, the uncertainty, and eventually finding my way back to the song I originally wrote.
On August 30, 2026, Harper’s first birthday, I released “Her Smile (Before the World).”
The title matters. This version captures her before the world gets its hands on her. Before expectations, heartbreak, pressure, and everything else that comes with growing up.
Never let anyone dull your flame.