First Nations singer says mental health has improved after writing song One Good Reason

Sara Kae was struggling quite a bit with her mental health last year.

But Kae, a member of Lake Helen First Nation, located in Northern Ontario, is feeling much better these days.

She attributes her improved mental health on the song One Good Reason that she wrote and officially released on Jan. 10.

Listen to the song here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yaH3YjHvwA

“Sometimes I call myself a bit of a toxic optimist,” Kae said. “And I have kind of a hard time admitting that I’m going through a hard time.”

Early last year Kae decided to write a song about how she was feeling at the time.

“I kind of got all that out into song form and I was able to kind of feel a lot better about the headspace I was in and re-evaluate all of that moving forward,” she said. “Since I’ve written that song I can look back at it and think about where my head is at and how great I feel now.”

Kae, who is 25, said she had touched on her mental health struggles in previous songs that she had written.

But One Good Reason proved to be enlightening.

“I’ve kind of touched on things before,” she said. “But I’ve never really fully shared something. I think this was the first time I was a bit more vulnerable.

“One Good Reason was kind of like that first lightbulb moment where I thought I’m not doing well or I wasn’t doing well, especially at that time. And that’s okay. You have to kind of learn to be okay with whatever emotions you’re going through and hopefully find yourself through them at the other end.”

Kae said she had some conflicting thoughts while writing her song.

 “It was going against falling into sadness and how easy it can go that way,” she said. “It was just so tempting to kind of sit here and feel that. But at the same time, I was trying to fight it. But it was like give me one good reason to. I don’t want to be sad anymore.”

Kae didn’t mind letting the world know what she was going through.

“I think it was the first moment I could look at something and say this is how I’m feeling and accepting that,” she said. “And in the last bit of 2024, a lot has changed for me and I just think it is investment in myself, in my mental health, in my physical health. Just everything has switched and I’ve been focusing on improving.”

Kae’s musical career started when she was a tween. She would perform at community gatherings and tour schools in Northern Ontario with her father Ron, who was a counselor.

“I’ve been singing for quite a while, she said. “I kind of use 12 as when things started to click for me, that I really, really enjoyed this and it was something that I wanted to take a little bit more seriously. I kind of figured out at a young age that I could somewhat make a living off of creating music.”

Her inspiration was her father.

“My dad was I want to say my first real exposure to music,” she said. “He used to play a lot of guitar songs and a lot of Johnny Cash. I would sing along with them. I didn’t realize how old the songs were for my age at that time. So, I grew up with a lot of the classics. I kind of keep that with me as I create my own music now.”

Kae’s father is also continuing his musical career.

“He does play music still,” she said. “He does more of a punk thing now. So, he plays a lot of Ramones songs these days. He’s kind of changed from Johnny Cash to Ramones and I think that’s a pretty hilarious 180 turn.”

One Good Reason was released as a single. Kae had also put out her first EP, which featured four songs, this past October.

She eventually wants to release an album.

“At the moment I’m just going to release more songs as they come to me,” she said.

Kae also teaches music to young kids and in recent years has occasionally worked for the CBC as freelance radio/digital reporter.

She’s hoping her musical career continues to move forward.

“A goal of mine is to be able to tour and play more shows,” she said. “I feel that connection with people is really strong when you get to do those live performances. I’m hoping in the next year or two I’ll find myself in different places, meeting new people, to play music for them.”