Pro-life song catapults teenager into iTunes country charts

Rachel Holt sings “I Was Gonna Be” and is accompanied by songwriter Chris Wallin on guitar. (Baste Records/YouTube)

A song with a tender pro-life message has reached the top five of the iTunes country music charts less than three weeks after its release.

18-year-old Rachel Holt sings “I Was Gonna Be” from the perspective of an aborted child.

The song’s chorus – “All I wanted was a chance/To learn, to love, to laugh and to dance/But I was gone before I arrived/Sent back to heaven on a starlight flight” – is accompanied by photos of baby bottles, baby shoes and toys that eerily disappear in the music video.

The song overtook Zach Bryan’s “Pink Skies” and Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” on iTunes. Songwriter Chris Wallin — who has written hits for country stars Trace Adkins, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney and others — said he wrote the song not believing anyone would ever sing it.

“I started writing this song for myself. I didn’t think anyone would have the courage to sing it,” Wallin told Breitbart News Daily in an interview on Sirius-XM’s conservative talk show Patriot channel. Shortly after they met and Holt heard Wallin’s song, she offered to sing it, he said.

Wallin said he “wanted people to hear the voice of the voiceless” and wrote the song because he “thought something needed to be said.”

When it came to finding a sponsor for “I Was Gonna Be,” Wallin said, Baste Records, a Nashville, Tennessee-based label that describes itself as a “right-wing counterculture music company,” “left no stone unturned to call and talk to pro-life groups” to promote the song. When none of the pro-life groups wanted to sponsor the song, conservative wireless carrier Patriot Mobile stepped in, Wallin told Breitbart.

Glenn Story, CEO of Patriot Mobile, said in a press release that his company received a call about needing an advertising sponsor for a pro-life song.

“It fit perfectly with our belief in the sanctity of life,” said Story, whose company describes itself as the record’s “official song partner.”

He also emphasized the beauty of the song and said, “We need more conservative messages in art, as the music industry is a very important part of today’s culture war.”

Wallin, who also serves as director of artists and repertoire at Baste Records, signed Holt to the Nashville label last year after discovering the Indiana artist and her self-released debut album, “Missin’ Home.”

“I Was Gonna Be” was released on streaming platforms such as Spotify and iHeartRadio on June 21, just three days before the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The song maintains a five-star rating on the iTunes Store. Baste Records posted on X last week that “I Was Gonna Be” reached No. 9 on Billboard’s Country Digital Sales, No. 20 on Digital Sales, and No. 21 on Emerging Artists.