Corinne Bailey Rae Turns Her Classic Hit Into a Sweet Children’s Story

Some songs feel like a warm memory. You hear the first few notes, and suddenly you are somewhere else, maybe dancing in your room or riding in the car with the windows down. For Corinne Bailey Rae, one of those songs has now become something even more special, a children’s book.

The singer just released her first children’s book, Put Your Records On, from Rocky Pond Books. The story is inspired by her 2006 hit of the same name. "I've done three readings so far and I get so much out of reading it," she told PEOPLE in this week's issue. "I'm just so happy with how it turned out."

In the new book, a young girl named Bea spends the day exploring her aunt’s record collection. Each song she plays brings out a different feeling. Some make her happy. Some make her thoughtful. Some make her want to dance around the room.

The story connects directly to Rae’s global hit, which includes the lyrics, "Girl put your records on, tell me your favorite song, just go ahead let your hair down."

Now celebrating the 20th anniversary of both the song and her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae, the singer still remembers writing it. After creating the original guitar riff, "I remember kind of finishing the lyrics for it on the train," she shared with the outlet.

She drew from her own childhood memories. "When I was writing the song, I was getting back into that feeling of finding myself through music, putting on my my dad's record collection, dancing around the room. I remember putting on a Stevie Wonder song one time, and I had these really big chunky, high heeled shoes and was dancing. My neighbor came knocking."

Rae said the real push to turn her song into a children’s book came from her daughters, ages 8 and 6, whom she shares with husband Steve Brown.

"Having kids, finding myself, telling them loads of different stories," she said of how the idea came about. "We obviously have lots of car journeys, plane journeys and train journeys where they just say, 'Tell me a story.' And you just have to pull from what you know and so much of that is your experience. And so I really wanted to tell a story about music and emotions."

The book does not avoid harder feelings either. Rae experienced deep loss when her first husband, fellow musician Jason Rae, died unexpectedly in 2008. That experience shaped how she understands sadness today.

"When I'm in a happy moment, I feel the joy. And then I also feel this kind of extra layer because I think, 'gosh, I didn't know that I would be here. I didn't know I would be able to feel this really uncomplicated joy'," she shared.

Rae continued, "Every time I'm with my kids, I think, 'Wow, this is amazing. I got to have children.' Or I'm with my husband. I think, 'Wow, I got to have this love.' You're grateful for the joy and then you're also grateful because it's so much in contrast to the pain that you've experienced. It kind of colors every day with an extra layer of gratitude."

She said motherhood is something she fully appreciates right now. "They're amazing. I think I'm really aware at this moment of them being 6 and 8 and how it feels," she said.

"When we're in the room together, I'm as present as I can be. When they say, 'Will you play with me?' And you think, 'Yeah, I'm pretty tired right now,' but the fact is that they won't be saying that just in a few years. It's got so much beauty and pain sort of wrapped in it together."

Even with book readings and parenting, Rae still finds time to enjoy music herself. As she prepares for her Like A Star tour to celebrate 20 years since her debut, she has a playlist ready.

"Stevie songs, 'Cornflake Girl' by Tori Amos, and I just got the new Jill Scott record. There's so much positivity in it. I like anything that lifts you up."

Put Your Records On from Rocky Pond Books is available now wherever books are sold.