A chart-rising song by Christian singer Anne Wilson was birthed out of a time of insecurity in her life as a teenager.
Wilson's song Hey Girl has spent 21 weeks on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart, reminding girls and women alike that they should not let "everybody and their mother try to tell you what you're worth." The song testifies: "You are the treasure of the God who loves you."
"I grew up in a great home and had great friends when I was younger," Wilson, 20, told Christian Headlines. "But when I got into middle school and high school, I just felt like my identity was just gone. I was so insecure. I felt not good enough. I felt not worthy. And girls are always so mean in that age group. And everyone's trying to figure out what they're doing in their life. I just felt so down on myself all the time."
For Wilson, the turning point in her life occurred in eighth grade.
"I was having this really, really rough day," she said. "And I remember one of my mentors coming up to me, and she was just praying over me. And she said to me, 'Anne, you are God's precious daughter, and He sees you as His precious daughter.' And that changed everything for me when I realized that it wasn't about what I looked like. It wasn't about what people thought about me. It wasn't about what I did or achieved in this lifetime – but that my highest calling is that I'm God's precious daughter. When I had that moment, it changed everything for me."
Wilson, who burst on the CCM scene in 2021 with the No. 1 single My Jesus, said she wants Hey Girl to impact women who are in a similar situation. She co-wrote it with Jeff Pardo and Matthew West.
"My heart's desire for this song was that it would reach people, and specifically women of all ages, but also in that middle school to high school range that it would point them back to Jesus, that their identity is in Him," she said. "And that's the most important thing that we can carry in this life – is knowing that it doesn't matter what other people think about us, it doesn't matter what the enemy says about us or tries to speak over us, but that our identity is rooted in Jesus. So it's been really cool to see how this song has already impacted girls and women of all ages. And I hope that it just continues to point people back to Him."
Wilson recently released a book: My Jesus: From Heartache to Hope.
Photo courtesy: ©Terry Wyatt, used with permission.
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
