Singled Out: Callaghan's Best Year (Produced By Shawn Mullins)

"Best Year" is the first single from my new album, Life in Full Colour. The song is one of a series of "firsts" that have occurred for me over the last year. A year in which I recorded my first full length album, got to collaborate with Grammy-nominee Shawn Mullins, started a new life in the USA, and made music my full-time career.

I wrote "Best Year" about 6 months after moving to the US from London. After contacting Shawn Mullins through MySpace, he had offered to produce my album, an opportunity I thought was just too good to pass up! So I waved goodbye to friends, family and my job, and got on a plane to Atlanta. It was quite a scary time, not knowing what lay ahead. I wasn't sure how my music would be received in the US or whether I would be able to make a living from it. But I figured that you only get one life, and when the opportunity presents itself for you to follow your dreams, you have to grab it with both hands.

That's really what the lyrics of "Best Year" are about: living life to the full and making the most out of every situation. The lines in the chorus, "I feel the good times coming...a blue sky and an endless horizon," are about a sense of optimism and feeling that the best days are still to come. I think that sentiment is one of the really positive aspects of the American outlook on life, which I have enjoyed since moving here.

"Best Year" has definitely become an anthem for me - It's one of my most fun songs to perform live, and each time I sing it I'm reminded of why I moved here. I have received such an amazing welcome and support for my music and what I'm trying to achieve, and I have definitely seen some blue skies (possibly even more than I saw in London... if you can believe that!).