Christina Grimmie’s vocals are featured on boyfriend Stephen Rezza’s new track Hard Mode… four years after The Voice star was killed
The companion of fallen Voice star Christina Grimmie is continuing to pay tribute to her memory.
Stephen Rezza, boyfriend of The Voice season 6 star who was fatally shot in 2016, dropped his new song Hard Mode on Friday, which features vocals from his beloved Christina after he received approval from her family.
Rezza, 26, had a nickname for Grimmie – ‘spoop’ – which he used in the Instagram post announcing his new track, accompanied by a beautifully animated music video.
Paying tribute: Stephen Rezza, boyfriend of fallen Voice star Christina Grimmie, dropped his new song Hard Mode on Friday which features vocals from his beloved Christina; seen in 2019
Gone but never forgotten: Grimmie was killed at the age of 22 by a deranged fan outside of her Orlando concert in June of 2016; seen here in 2011
‘This is the first of many songs I’m putting out with spoop’s vocal. I hope you love it,’ Stephen wrote in the caption, in part.
The song itself is an accounting of the difficult experiences Stephen has endured, which include Christina’s tragic and untimely death nearly four years ago, as well as a scary and intense bout with brain cancer last year.
The Hard Mode track begins with the lyrics, ‘It’s hard to say the girl I love is gone, the world doesn’t deserve what she woulda sung’ before he references the ‘doctors in my brain, digging through my skull.’
Grimmie was killed at the age of 22 by deranged fan Kevin James Loibl outside of her Orlando, Florida concert in June of 2016. After fatally wounding the star, Loibl shot and killed himself.
Loving couple: Stephen and Christina seen in a picture on his Twitter
The chorus of Stephen’s new song repeats the refrain ‘God put my life on Hard Mode,’ and it features warped and altered vocals by the late Grimmie.
What’s more, Rezza told TMZ that each track on his new album Songs For Christina, which will release later this year, will sample Grimmie’s old music along with voicemails she left for him.
Stephen initially resisted moving forward with the project, but his medical problems in 2019 changed his perspective.
‘Wrote this song last year with a wrap around my head in a recovery bed’: Rezza’s new song is an accounting of the difficult experiences he has endured, which include Christina’s tragic death as well as a scary bout with brain cancer last year
‘I almost never put these songs out. They’re so personal I didn’t think the world wanted to hear them,’ he told TMZ.
‘Next thing I knew I was on an operating table wide awake, skull open while my brain’s being worked on. I almost lost everything. If I had died or lost the ability to make music, the only thing I would’ve truly regretted would’ve been never finishing this album for her.’
In his Instagram post on Friday, Stephen also wrote ‘Life’s been rough for me, between loss & brain cancer but if you’re out there going through a hard time I want you to know you’re not alone. Reach out. Not only do you have a community but Gods got your back.’
Always in his thoughts: This recent Instagram post from Stephen honored his late girlfriend’s birthday
Thinking of others: In his Instagram post announcing the track on Friday, Stephen wrote ‘Life’s been rough for me, between loss & brain cancer but if you’re out there going through a hard time I want you to know you’re not alone’