"Until She Smiles" is not just another movie song, but an emotional experience that sticks with you long after the last note has played. Appearing at the conclusion of her father, Matt Engelbert's, award-winning film, "What Tomorrow Brings", it plays like both a cinematic and a personal statement. It seizes a moment of reclamation, when a fragile voice that had been silenced by pain finally finds the courage to sing again.
"Until She Smiles," written by her sister, Zoey Engelbert, is a family-fabricated triumph that's built on emotional truth and the quiet kind of stardom. The lyrics read like pages from Clara's journal of a woman stitching herself back together after loss, realizing that healing is less about attaining perfection and more about persevering through it.
That is a hell of a vocal from Joely. There's no artifice or overproduction at work here, but truth and a soulful delivery that hits right where it hurts. Each note sounds deliberate, bearing both the heft of sorrow and the tremble of hope. The song's roughness is its best feature, and an echo of the strength it was supposed to represent.
"Until She Smiles' is a testament to the fact that even when you are silent, strength can still speak. The songwriting seamlessly melds family collaboration, cinematic storytelling, and emotional authenticity so naturally that, even though it's rare to find all three in one place, the Engelberts' pull it off without a hitch or hint of affectation.
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