Songfacts®:

• Nashville-based folk-pop singer Leah Nobel wrote this poignant track for her 2019 album, Running In Borrowed Shoes, which was inspired by 100 interviews she conducted with people of various ages and backgrounds. Nobel learned that many of them persevered through tragedy and used their painful experiences for good. "One of the most impressive things to me about human beings is our resilience and I really wanted to echo that in this song," she explained in a YouTube video.
• While this was influenced by a number of her interviewees, the song was inspired by one woman in particular. Nobel shared: "The story that this is specifically based on is of a woman whose love for life was stolen from her due to illness and abuse and addiction, and she was always questing to steal it back. And I think of her every time I sing this song."
• In a 2021 Songfacts interview, Nobel explained why the song resonates so strongly with her: "I think part of the reason why that song means so much to me is because of the deep connection I formed with the interviewees that inspired it. They started off as strangers and now they are a part of my life. The song was based off of a line in a poem by the Roman poet Ovid. 'Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you' and I now consider it one of my mantras. It helps me remember that pain is not only temporary but fruitful."
• Nobel on the meaning behind the album title: "'Running In Borrowed Shoes' is a way for me to describe the act of being a vessel for other people's stories - it's my least personal music ever because there's almost nothing of me in these songs." She added: "It felt like running more than walking because I was covering more ground."
• Nobel earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism (and French) from Northern Arizona University. Her studies were useful over the 11-month period of interviewing people for the album. Nobel connected with her subjects at coffee shops, senior centers and her local YMCA, where she would set up a homemade sign that read "Come Talk To Me." She also reached out to people on social media.
• After graduating from college, the Arizona native relocated to Austin, Texas, where she grew a following performing at open mic nights and small acoustic shows. In 2015, she officially moved to Nashville and released a Kickstarter-funded Double EP project: Strangers Again and Just Like Sunday. The following year, she introduced her electro-pop alter ego, Hael, and released the single "Between Wind And Water."