Stevie Nicks Calls New Single “The Lighthouse” an “Anthem” for Women’s Rights: “This May Be the Most Important Thing I Ever Do”

“This is an anthem,” said Stevie Nicks of her new single “The Lighthouse,” which she started writing several months after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. “It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘What can we, as a collective force, do about this,’” said Nicks. “For me, it was to write a song.”

Titled after what is often considered a beacon of hope, a lighthouse, Nicks breaks through anger with a message of empowerment singing I Have My Scars, You Have Yours / Don’t Let Them, Take Your Power / Don’t Leave It Alone In The Final Hours / They’ll Take Your Soul, They’ll Take Your Power.

Throughout “The Lighthouse,” Nicks reveals the consequences of inaction and the importance of standing up for women’s rights and presumably a call to vote: Unless You Stand Up / And Take It Back / Try To See The Future / And Get Mad / It’s Slippin’ Through Your Fingers … I Wanna Be The Lighthouse / Bring All Of You Together / Bring It Out In A Song / Bring It Out.

Co-written with Magnus Birgersson, and Vincent Villuis and co-produced with Dave Cobb and Sheryl Crow, who also provided backing vocals and played bass and electric guitar on the track, “The Lighthouse” is Nicks’ first original song in four years and took her two years to complete.

“It took a while because I was on the road,” shared Nicks. “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. That was September 6, 2022. I have been working on it ever since.”

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In the music video for “The Lighthouse,” definitions of a lighthouse flash across the screen: a guide for weary travelers through stormy seas; a beacon of light providing a sense of direction, safety, and hope; a powerful beam that illuminates a path from darkness and uncertainty toward light. Visuals move between a silhouette of Nicks inside a lighthouse and her performing inside to imagery of women’s rights protests.

The origin of “The Lighthouse” began with a poem Nicks shared on social media in September 2022 titled “Get It Back,” which she wrote to encourage people to vote during the midterm elections that year.

“At 74 years old, I can honestly say that I am worried about every one of you,” wrote Nicks in her post. “Worried about health care, and just in general, worried about your God given rights. The disintegration of Roe v. Wade will change your life in an unfathomable way. You will not have control of what your beautiful dreams want for you.” She added, “I watched what happened to women from 1966 (I was 18) to 1973 when I was 25 and 2 years away from joining Fleetwood Mac. Believe me when I tell you, you don’t want that world to come back.”

Nicks, who recently joined Taylor Swift in endorsing Kamala Harris for U.S. president, will perform “The Lighthouse” as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on October 12, alongside returning host Ariana Grande. This will mark Nicks’s first appearance on SNL since December 1983 and the release of her second solo album The Wild Heart.

“I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do,” said Nicks of “The Lighthouse” and its message. “To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters, and the men that love them.”

Photo: Nicholas Hunt / WireImage