Francesca Battistelli
Francesca Battistelli brings a new level of authenticity and transparency to once again with her song “He Knows My Name,” off her latest album If We’re Honest (April 22, 2014).
“This is one of my favorite songs on the album. For me, I know my whole life I have struggled with believing what other people say about me. At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter,” she says. “The fact that the God of the universe–Who created every atom on this planet and every star in the sky–knows my name and calls me by name, and even named me, there’s such a power in knowing and understanding what that means. For me, it’s an anthem, and I really hope this song can be become that for young women and young men, everyone from kids to grandparents.”
“He Knows My Name,” follows her song “Write Your Story.”
“If we could really live believing … and trusting God with our futures and our lives knowing that He cares more than we do … we all live much fuller lives like He’s called us to,” the singer explains. “For the most part I’ve always tried to live within that scope.”
Born in New York City but raised in Florida, Francesca grew up in a musical family. When she was just 15, she was a member of an all-girl mainstream pop group in Orlando. After the group disbanded, Francesca picked up a guitar and started writing her own songs, with her faith front and center in the lyrics.
In 2008, Francesca released her debut album, My Paper Heart, which featured popular tunes such as, “I’m Letting Go,” “Free To Be Me,” “It’s Your Life,” and “Beautiful, Beautiful.” The album helped win her a Gospel Music Association Dove award for “Female Vocalist of the Year.”
Following her debut, the singer released Hundred More Years (March 2011) featuring the songs, “Strangely Dim,” “This Is The Stuff” and “Motion Of Mercy.”
“The motion of mercy, how it’s a cycle- we can’t give something until it’s been given to us. The idea of this kind of love that extends grace and extends mercy even when someone doesn’t deserve it, is what mercy is, and it is something the human mind cannot come up with,” she says. “It is definitely a God originated idea. The fact the he loves us enough and has compassion on us, gives us the ability to have that for someone else, and I love the idea of that concept.”
Now focused on her own family, Francesca and her husband Matt have encountered a new joy to their lives with the birth of their son Matthew in September of 2010, and the birth of their daughter Audrey in 2012.
