Nightbirde, the America's Got Talent contestant who blew millions away with her original music and died on Feb. 19, 2022 of breast cancer, will now have a body of work to be honored and remembered by.
On Sunday, the singer's family and The Nightbirde Foundation released the 10-track album — including her AGT audition song "It's OK," which the album was named after — to mark the first anniversary since she died at 31, PEOPLE can exclusively announce.
Proceeds from the album will be going to the foundation, which she and her brother Mitch Marczewski set up to help other women diagnosed with breast cancer.
"We're excited to share Jane's debut album with the world. Her work has touched the hearts of many because of her honesty and joy in the midst of sorrow," Marczewski, CEO of the foundation, said in a press release.
He continued, "This album doesn't pit these emotions against one another, but rather it shows joy can come through sorrow. Jane would be so proud of this album, but more than that, she'd be proud of the work that the Nightbirde Foundation is doing to help others find hope and healing in the midst of tragedy."
Nightbirde (born Jane Marczewski) recorded each song during her journey with cancer and it's a "reflection of her strength and the battle she was fighting in her own words," per a press release.
The album is split between an A and B side, with the first being a pop album and the second side featuring the same songs in a stripped-back version.
Nightbirde was a part of season 16 on the show — and during her audition, she told audiences that she "had some cancer in my lungs, spine and my liver," adding, "I have a two percent chance of survival, but two percent is not zero percent. Two percent is something, and I wish people knew how amazing it is."
She received Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer that season, vaulting her straight to the live shows. Her story and original song "It's Ok" resonated with viewers, and earned her millions of views on YouTube, as well as streams on music platforms.
However, she withdrew from the show weeks later, announcing on social media at the time that she was no longer able to compete as her health had taken a "turn for the worse."
When the season 16 finale aired in September 2021, the artist opened up about her complicated emotions and missing AGT in a lengthy Instagram post.
"It's so hard for me to not be on the @agt stage for the finals this week," she wrote. "I bet you never saw someone win so hard and lose so hard at the same time. This isn't how the story was supposed to go."
"I spend a lot of time squeezing my eyes shut and trying to remember what I believe; counting my breaths in the grief cloud; burying my face into God's T-shirt. I remind Him sometimes, (and not kindly) that I believed Him when He told me the story He wrote for me is good, and that He never stops thinking of me," she continued. "I must be a fool in love, because even from under all this debris, I still believe Him. And when I'm too angry to ask Him to sit on my bed until I fall asleep, He still stays."
The songwriter added, "Here we are, you and I, signing off on the risk of REBELLIOUSLY HOPING for better days. Let us not be blind to our own glory. I'm raging and crying and hoping with everyone who needs to rage and cry and hope tonight."
