Terra Renae Stops Choosing on “Every Part of Me”

Every Part of Me opens with “Wild Again,” the single she shared last December, and closes on its title track. In between are songs like “Best Revenge,” “Manifest It,” and the hazy, easygoing “Slightly Faded.” Terra Renae told FAULT the album moves “from wanting to break free to realizing you don’t have to escape yourself to feel free,” and the running order, from “Wild Again” to the title track, traces that path.

“Slightly Faded” took nearly two years to finish, and her favorite memory of it is a very human one. “I told Praveen that all I wanted for Christmas was for him to finally finish it!” she said. Making a record with your partner can go a lot of ways. Here it sounds like two people who know exactly how to push each other over the finish line.

Terra Renae grew up singing in the St. Margaret Mary choir and went to Eastern High School in Louisville. Then she earned a doctorate in nursing at the University of Louisville. Music did not wait politely for her to finish. A chance meeting with Macy Gray in Los Angeles turned into a mentorship, and Gray executive-produced her debut album, All I Have. Terra calls what followed “artist boot camp”: video assignments, real critiques of her vocals and stage presence, and then tours across Europe and the US alongside Gray.

That debut has passed a million Spotify streams, and she has played a hometown show at Louisville’s Mercury Ballroom. Her circle of collaborators has included Lauren Christy, Mikal Blue, Epic Mazur, and Midi Jones. Still, she admits she once worried her medical career would invite judgment for her bolder songs. This album is her letting that worry go, and it sounds like a weight lifted.

Start with “Wild Again,” then play the album straight through so the title track lands where she meant it to. It is a warm, confident record from someone who has finally stopped choosing between the parts of her life. We hope every listener who has felt split in two hears a little of themselves in it.