North Georgia native pens Olympic song (with video)

photo Singer-songwriter Mallary Hope's songs have been recorded by country teen stars Danielle Bradbery and Lauren Alaina and she has released two of her own singles, but she says she plans to put more emphasis on her singing career in 2014.
photo This image is taken from NBC's commercial featuring Cohutta, Ga., native Mallary Hope's song "My Day" and depicting scenes of inspirational Olympic moments.

IF YOU WATCHWhat: Winter OlympicsWhen: Feb. 6-23Where: Sochi, RussiaTV schedule: NBC, NBC Sports, MSNBC or CNBC will have Olympic programming at some point every day throughout the games; check local listings for details.

When Mallary Hope wrote the song "My Day" in 2009, she was having a bad day, disheartened that her music career hadn't taken off.

The song was her personal pick-me-up.

"I was at a point in my career where I was feeling down, felt like I had failed," said Hope, 26, a native of Cohutta, Ga. "I wanted to write a song that spoke to me and everybody else out there who feels they've tried all they can, gone after their dream and it doesn't take you where you want to go. I wanted to write an anthem for the underdogs."

Fast-forward five years and "My Day" is now the anthem for U.S. Olympic hopefuls competing next month in the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

In a cross-promotion between two of NBC's highest ratings draws -- "The Voice" and the Olympics -- the network has created an ad campaign that has Danielle Bradbery, the 17-year-old winner of Season 4 on "The Voice," singing "My Day" as the commercial runs through scenes of inspirational Olympic moments.

Bradbery had already recorded "My Day" for her self-titled debut album, released in November. The new Olympics ad campaign debuted during Season 5 of "The Voice," which finished up in December.

'My Day'Like a lotus flower growing in the dirtAin't nobody ever noticed what it's worthTil the sun shines and the rain fallsAnd in no time at all it's beautifulThis is my day, this is my dayOhhh, won't let it slip away,Oh, waiting for these changes to say,This is my dayThere's a voice inside that's trying to be heard,And it's echoing across the universeIf you listen it'll lead you to that placeYou've always been running toThis is my day, this is my dayOh, won't let it slip awayOh, I'm waiting for these changes to say,This is my dayI always saw it comingA little light behind those cloudsThis is the start of somethingMy heart believes it nowThis is my day, this is my dayOh, won't let it slip awayOh, I'm waiting for these changes to sayThis is my day

The commercial opens with Bradbery singing the first verse of the ballad as a hockey player skates across a snowy lake backlit by a sunset. Just before Bradbery soars into the chorus, viewers hear broadcaster Bob Costas exclaim, "Incredible! Get on your feet!" and a series of patriotic, goosebump-inducing shots of victorious Olympians flashes past.

The commercial -- which is done in 30- and 60-second formats -- is airing across NBC Universal's family of networks, according to an NBC news release, in the weeks building up to the Olympics coverage, which begins Feb. 6.

And every time the ad airs, Hope, who now lives in Nashville, gets paid royalties. The money comes through what are known as sync rights, which kick in when music publishers give permission to synchronize a musical composition to audiovisual images on film or videotape.

Hope laughed while saying she has no idea how much she'll make from the song, but she doesn't want to speculate and "jinx it." But it will make planning her wedding this year a lot easier, she said jokingly.

"A month and a half ago I got a call from Danielle Bradbery's team that the Olympics had picked it," said Hope. "When I saw the video I started bawling." Hope also wrote "Georgia Peaches" and "The Locket," two songs that local singer and "American Idol" runner-up Lauren Alaina recorded for her "Wildflower" CD in 2011.

Part of the reason for her tears, Hope explained, is that the ad campaign brought her vision of the song full circle.

"When I played it for my record label, I told them I saw all these different scenarios for a video of people walking in Relay for Life or the Avon Breast Cancer Walk, scenes of winning moments in the Olympics or Special Olympics. That's the kind of theme I wanted it to have."

Having "My Day" chosen as the theme song of NBC's Olympics campaign capped a stellar 2013 for Hope. Her boyfriend, Ryan Dokke, surprised her with a marriage proposal during her performance at the Grand Ole Opry last year, and she recorded a duet, "I Will Love You Still," with former Hootie and the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker for his new "True Believers" album.

She's also being noticed by others in the media. In a 2009 story, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times mentioned her as one of the rising stars in country music. From a jumping-off point of Taylor Swift, Caramanica names several new country singers who are changing the face of the industry.

"The next generation proposes a range of options," he wrote. "It includes ... young women with a more traditional style, like Mallary Hope."

Hope said she's lucky to have had songs cut by Bradbery and Alaina, but her focus for 2014 is to further her own singing career. So far, she has only released singles in 2009 and 2010 and a 2009 EP titled "Love Lives On," but she continues to tour and perform.

"I sing and write songs all the time, but I'm always going to be an artist first," she said.

The work seems to be taking its toll. On a post last week to her Facebook page, she wrote: "I'm so tired that I just brushed my teeth with Head & Shoulders shampoo."

Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.

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