With 40 Years, Jody Cooper channelled raw remembrance into a powerful tribute shaped by truth, melody, and conviction. The single responds to the #OurStoryIsOne campaign, which marks the 40th anniversary of the execution of ten Bahá’í women in Shiraz. In this deeply reflective interview, Jody opens up about how personal connection fuelled his creative process, why accuracy matters when telling stories through song, and how a move to Germany reshaped his understanding of generational trauma. His approach to composition balances delicate introspection with cinematic weight, capturing both the sorrow and defiance carried through the decades.
Welcome to A&R Factory, Jody, and thank you for taking the time to speak with us ahead of your latest release. “40 Years” tackles a tragic and powerful story. Can you talk us through the moment you decided to write the track and how you approached translating such an emotionally charged subject into music?
In 2023, I received an email from the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) announcing the #OurStoryIsOne campaign, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the execution of ten Iranian women by hanging. Their ‘crime’: being Bahá’ís. The campaign asked for, among other things, artistic contributions that might highlight these women’s story. As soon as I read that, I knew I had to attempt to write something. My only musical reference at that point was a song by the Canadian Bahá’í musician Doug Cameron that I’d heard as a child called “Mona With the Children” – a powerful song with an even more powerful music video which tells the story of the youngest of the ten women: the 17-year-old Mona Mahmoudnejad. My songwriting process began, simply, with me sitting at the piano and playing around with some chords and melodies. From experience I knew that, if I could connect with the story on a personal level, then the ideas would flow. After that, the first couple of lines came out quite naturally.
As a Bahá’í artist, how did your personal connection to the women commemorated in the #OurStoryIsOne campaign shape your creative process, both lyrically and musically?
This was really important, as, without that personal connection, I wouldn’t have been able to write. So I started by reading everything on the internet I could find about the ten women. I wanted the lyrics to be vividly accurate and describe some of the experiences that they went through (imprisonment, torture, etc.) so that the listener could visually imagine what the women were going through at the time. In the opening lines and in the chorus I tried to lyrically draw on the emotions I first felt as a child when I heard the news of their execution, as well as how I felt now in retrospect. Musically I wanted to portray two sides to the story: the darkness of the women’s experiences described in the verses juxtaposed with the nobility and bravery – the light – of the choruses.
Given the political and spiritual weight behind “40 Years”, did you find it more difficult to record compared to your previous material, or did that sense of purpose give the process more clarity?
Definitely the latter. Sometimes, when I’m recording in my home studio, it can be very easy to just allow oneself to go off on a tangent and experiment. The end result is that you lose forward momentum on a project. But, with the strong sense of purpose I had here, I knew the recording had to be worthy of the subject matter. That really helped to focus me and to concentrate on what really mattered in service of the song.
You’re originally from the UK but are now based in Germany. Has the change in environment had an influence on how you write or present your music, particularly when handling themes that are so grounded in global human rights issues?
Even though it’s a subject matter I’ve written a lot about, I think living in Germany has definitely made me more aware of human rights issues, especially given the country’s history. There is a term here which translates as “generational trauma”, which people are only in recent years really beginning to realise and try to tackle. It’s not something I was familiar with before I moved here, but I find it a fascinating subject and one that I have even begun to tackle in my songwriting.
The story behind this single spans four decades and touches on themes of courage, injustice, and remembrance. What role do you think music should play in preserving and amplifying historical narratives like this?
If there’s one thing I’ve observed in life regarding history, it’s that people often have short memories, and, sometimes, that is deliberate, for example, when you are trying to protect yourself from past trauma. But, of course, that can lead to us not learning from our mistakes and, ultimately, making those same mistakes again. I find that music has the power to cut through all those protective ‘walls’ that we put up around us, to open old wounds and, through that voyage of self-discovery, inevitably heal us in the process.
In terms of instrumentation and production, what decisions did you make to reflect the gravity of the story being told, and were there any particular musical influences that helped you shape the tone of the track?
Based on the basic acoustic guitar version I had when I finished writing it, I knew the instrumental arrangement would have to be much more dramatic to adequately portray the story musically. This realisation led me naturally to a heavier, electric guitar-based production. It also influenced how I approached the singing, e.g., delicate and intimate vocals in the first verse and chorus but building in intensity throughout the song. In terms of influences, I definitely had Kings of Leon and U2 in my head when I was recording it.
When releasing a song with such historical and spiritual weight, how do you balance the need for artistic expression with the responsibility of representing real events and lives with accuracy and respect?
As a songwriter but also as a fellow Bahá’í, it was important to me to get the facts right. Obviously, it’s not possible in a few minutes of music to adequately portray everything that those ten women went through, but I hope I captured the essence of it. And that’s the beauty and magic of music: sometimes you can express through the combination of melody and lyrics something more clearly and powerfully than you can with mere words alone.
What kind of response are you hoping for from listeners, particularly those who may not be familiar with the Bahá’í Faith or the story of the ten women in Shiraz?
I hope the song will enable listeners to put themselves in these women’s shoes, to imagine their feelings as their own, to inspire them to learn more about their incredible story through the #OurStoryIsOne campaign and to raise a vital call against injustice. Yes, these women were ultimately killed because they would not recant their faith, but their story reveals a much bigger truth about the status of women in Iranian society. These women believed in the equality of women and men and the unity of religion – two important Bahá’í principles that go against the current regime’s policies – and they were willing to die for those beliefs. But change happens whether we (or they) want it to or not. And it’s only through being able to believe that we can change positively that such hatreds and ignorance can be overcome. If my song leaves you with that thought, then I’m happy.
Discover more about Jody Cooper via their official website.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast