The Hillary Reynolds who began creating her debut album, Changing Seasons, more than five years ago is not the same Hillary Reynolds who is releasing it to the world in 2025.
“It’s wild to think about how the album was written before I became a mother and then finished on the other side of that profound transformation,” Reynolds reflects. “I already felt like a different person on the other side of the pandemic, but motherhood also threw me for a loop.”
If the COVID-19 pandemic slowed artists down in 2020 and 2021, pregnancy and adjusting to new motherhood after the birth of her son in mid-2022 ground Reynolds’s plans to a halt. It was such a change, in fact, that she wasn’t sure she’d ever complete this album. “The postpartum journey was more difficult than I had imagined. I had to kind of gather pieces of myself, and that took time to stitch back together — a lot longer than I thought it would,” she admits.
Gradually, she reintroduced herself to her career. Co-writing sessions for other artists came first, then performances. “Eventually,” Reynolds recalls, “there were moments onstage in Summer 2023 where I started to get really emotional. It was such a strong resonance.” That was all the proof she needed that she was meant to see this album through.
What started as an exploration of songs that felt too personal to pitch to other performers has become something Reynolds needed, and hopes others do, too. The eight songs on Changing Seasons are meant to be a soothing companion to morning routines — something to ease listeners into a new day, to ground you before the chaos sets in.
Despite being written in 2018, the album’s title track captures Reynolds’ own transformation. “You see me just as I am,” she sings in the chorus, honoring the joy of finding someone who loves you unconditionally through your changes and the beauty of that someone growing with you. “It’s rare to love and be loved by someone throughout your life,” Reynolds says. “We aren’t the same people we were 10 years ago or five years ago — hopefully not — but the fact that you can choose to be with someone is such a noble, beautiful thing.”
Originally from Appleton, Wisc., Reynolds has been living and songwriting in Los Angeles for several years. Her songs have been recorded by Little Big Town (“Next to You”) and Dani Rose (“Got It from My Mama”) and can be heard on Yellowstone and Loudermilk. She also curates and hosts house concerts called Parachute and works with creatives in her hometown on projects to benefit The Trina Fund, which supports women with breast cancer and was established by and named for her mother, who died of breast cancer in 2011.
