Music Friday: RaeLynn's Newest Release 'Diamonds' Was Inspired by Her 2015 Engagement

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, RaeLynn — who is best known as a finalist in Season 2 of The Voice — sings about how an engagement ring embodies a lifelong pledge of love and devotion in her 2016 release, "Diamonds."

In the song, RaeLynn acknowledges that diamonds are exciting, but explains that nothing can compare to receiving a diamond engagement ring from the one you love.

She sums up her feelings in the chorus of "Diamonds"... "Cause a diamond's just a diamond til you put it on the right left hand / Love is just a word til you feel it and finally understand / That some things don't mean anything til one day they mean everything / And you're flyin', smilin' and shinin' / Kinda like diamonds / Kinda like diamonds."

The 22-year-old RaeLynn, whose given name is Racheal Lynn Woodward, told The Knot how her October 2015 engagement to Josh Davis inspired her to write the song.

"The day after I got engaged, I was looking at my engagement ring and how beautiful it was," she said. "And all I could think about was how much Josh meant to me — and that this ring would just be a ring without him. What makes it so special is it sealed a promise to the man I love for the rest of my life."

The couple wed in February of 2016.

“When you meet the right one, you have to go with it,” RaeLynn told The Knot. “Love is real. Love is the greatest gift God could give us. Just like ‘Thing About Us’ was my [wedding] song with Josh, I hope maybe ‘Diamonds’ can be your wedding song [someday].”

"Diamonds" is the eighth track from RaeLynn's soon-to-be released album WildHorse. The single hit the airwaves last week and the album is set to drop on December 2.

The singer/songwriter from Baytown, Texas, auditioned for the second season of The Voice in 2012. As a member of Team Blake, she made it all the way to the quarterfinals before being eliminated. In June of this year, RaeLynn signed a new record deal with Warner Bros. Nashville.

She named her upcoming album WildHorse because the album's tracks reflect RaeLynn's carefree spirit and unconventional way of looking at life. The album is a retrospective of her past four years, a roller-coaster ride that saw her graduate from high school, move away from her parents, fall in love, have her heart broken, fall in love again, get engaged and then marry the man of her dreams.

In October of 2015, RaeLynn showed off her beautiful marquise-shaped diamond engagement ring in a series of romantic Instagram posts. She captioned one of the pics, "Can’t believe I get to marry my best friend. Ahhhhhhhh."

We hope you enjoy RaeLynn's newest release. The video and lyrics are below...

"Diamonds"
Written by Emily Weisband, Jimmy Robbins and RaeLynn. Performed by RaeLynn.

There's one sittin' in a pawn shop, glass counter, someone down in California traded it for a TV
Another one in a pretty blue box somewhere up in New York, white ribbon, Tiffany's
One's catchin' dust in a drawer in a dresser at your grandma's house that's been there since 1953
But honestly

A diamond's just a diamond til you put it on the right left hand
Love is just a word til you feel it and finally understand
That some things don't mean anything til one day they mean everything
And you're flyin', smilin' and shinin'
Kinda like diamonds
Kinda like diamonds

I ain't saying they aren't pretty and the way they feel doesn't feel just like an answer to a little girls dream
Ain't saying they ain't fun to show off to your friends and get the chills when you hear them scream
But if your hearts not in it, forget it

Cause a diamond's just a diamond til you put it on the right left hand
Love is just a word til you feel it and finally understand
That some things don't mean anything til one day they mean everything
And you're flyin', smilin' and shinin'
Kinda like diamonds
Kinda like diamonds

I don't need one just to hold on to
I don't want one unless it comes with you

Cause a diamond's just a diamond til you put it on the right left hand
Love is just a word til you feel it and finally understand
That some things don't mean anything til one day they mean everything
And you're flyin', smilin' and shinin'
Kinda like diamonds
Kinda like diamonds

Credit: Instagram/RaeLynnOfficial.

Diamond Mining Companies Set Their Sights on the Biggest Diamonds of All Time

On January 26, 1905, Captain Frederick Wells was conducting a standard inspection of the Premier Mine in South Africa when a glint off the wall of the mine caught his attention. At first, he thought it was a shard of glass that may have been embedded there by a miner as a practical joke. But, then he pulled out his pocket knife and pried the object from the wall.

What he extracted was the now-famous 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered. The Cullinan weighed 621 grams (1.37 pounds) and was 98mm (3.85 inches) long, 57mm wide and 67mm tall.

For the next 111 years, diamond miners have dreamed of another Cullinan, but none have gotten close to securing a gem of that size.

Even last year's amazing recovery of a 1,109-carat diamond from Lucara's Karowe mine in Botswana paled in comparison to the Cullinan. The Lesedi La Rona is barely 36% of the weight of the diamond standard-bearer.

The biggest obstacle to securing enormous diamonds — intact — is the violent method mining companies use to process the diamond-bearing rock. Typically, the material has been drilled, blasted, hauled and put through crushing machines to get to the gems that may be hiding within. During that process, extremely large diamonds, some weighing hundreds of carats, are often damaged or even pulverized.

Lucara revealed that the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona actually weighed 1,483 carats, but a large chunk was a broken off during the sorting process. Lucara CEO William Lamb told Bloomberg.com at the time that it was actually fortunate that the 374-carat chunk broke off because Lucara’s plant was not designed to process such large material. A 1,500-carat diamond would have been crushed.

Last week, we noted that Lucapa Diamond Co. is about to go online with a new sorting machine that can recover diamonds up to 1,000 carats in size at its Lulo processing plant in Angola.

Now, Bloomberg.com is reporting that Lucara and Gem Diamonds Ltd. have their eyes on an even bigger prize.

Both are stepping up their investments in Large Diamond Recovery (LDR). The companies are installing bigger, costlier filters and laser identification technology so huge diamonds can be cherry picked before the ore goes through the crushing process. The new recovery technology will be implemented at both Lucara’s Karowe mine in Botswana and Gem Diamonds Ltd.’s Letseng mine in Lesotho.

Lucara's recently completed plant modifications are designed to sift diamonds as large as 90 millimeters (3.5 inches) in diameter and would allow for the recovery of a gem comparable in size to the 3,106-carat Cullinan.

Credits: Captain Frederick Wells image (uncredited). Diamond images courtesy of Lucara Diamond.

8.01-Carat 'Sky Blue Diamond' Could Fetch $25M at Sotheby's Geneva

"The Sky Blue Diamond" is the latest in a procession of majestic fancy vivid blue diamonds that have captivated the auction world over the past 12 months.

Weighing 8.01 carats, "The Sky Blue Diamond" is the headliner of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale, which is set to take place in Geneva on November 16. The square-cut gem, which is set in a ring by Cartier, boasts the highest possible color grading, an excellent polish and a purity rating of Type IIb, a rare category representing less than 0.5% of all diamonds. Sotheby's set the pre-sale estimate at $15 million to $25 million.

If the ring sells at the top of the estimated range, it would yield $3.12 million per carat and rank among the finest fancy vivid blue diamonds of all time.

Blue diamond lovers may remember that "The Blue Moon of Josephine" established a new record for the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone when the hammer went down at Sotheby's Geneva in November 2015. The internally flawless 12.03-carat cushion-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond sold for $48.5 million, or $4.03 million per carat.

In May 2016, "The Oppenheimer Blue" became the priciest gem ever auctioned when it sold for $57.5 million at Christie's Geneva. The fancy vivid blue step-cut, rectangular-shaped diamond weighed 14.62 carats and earned a clarity rating of VVS1. Its price per carat was $3.96 million.

“The Sky Blue Diamond is of a wonderfully clear celestial blue, presented in an extremely elegant square emerald cut – in my view, the most flattering of all the cuts for a colored diamond," commented David Bennett, Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewelry Division. "This important gem will, I am sure, captivate all collectors of exceptional gemstones.”

The Sky Blue Diamond and other top lots from the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale will tour London (October 13-17) and New York (November 4-6) before returning to Geneva for the auction.

Credits: The Sky Blue Diamond and The Blue Moon of Josephine images courtesy of Sotheby's. The Oppenheimer Blue image courtesy of Christie’s.

60-Minute Find: Father-Daughter Duo Scores 2.03-Carat 'Lucky Diamond' at Arkansas Park

First-time prospectors Dan Frederick and his daughter, Lauren, scored a 2.03-carat white diamond within 60 minutes of searching the side of a plowed furrow at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park last Tuesday.

Dan Frederick, who hails from Renton, Wash., and Lauren, who lives in Los Angeles, traveled 2,200 and 1,600 miles, respectively, to prospect for gems together at the only diamond site in the world that allows treasure hunters to keep whatever they find. The entry fee cost them $8 apiece.

The Fredericks had never visited the Crater of Diamonds State Park before and planned their trip to Arkansas after searching the internet for "places to find gems."

Dan Frederick noted that he and his daughter started their search for gems at 8 a.m., and by 9 a.m. Dan had spotted the diamond's metallic shine on top of the ground near the Star of Arkansas diamond marker on the north end of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area. The Fredericks named their find "The Lucky Diamond."

Lauren Frederick told ArkansasOnline.com that the diamond "was the cherry on top of a fun and special trip."

"Finding the diamond will be one of my favorite memories, especially since my dad and I found it together," she said.

Park Interpreter Betty Coors described the diamond as having a pearly white color and a distinct triangular shape that results when two diamond crystals share part of the same structure during formation deep within the earth. These twinned crystals are called "macle" gems.

Larger diamonds are occasionally found on the surface of the search area by park visitors. Diamonds are a bit heavy for their size, and when rain washes dirt away, they are sometimes exposed right at the top. When the sun comes out, they sparkle and are easier to spot.

“Dan Frederick has proven, once again, that it is possible to find large, beautiful diamonds while surface searching," Coors said in a statement. "This is an example of a diamond that all park visitors dream of taking home.”

The Fredericks have yet to decide whether they will have their diamond faceted and polished or leave it in its natural state.

The search field in Murfreesboro, Ark., is actually the eroded surface of an ancient diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe. The park maintains a generous finder’s keepers policy and even provides experts to help amateur prospectors identify what they’ve found. Besides diamonds, the search field often yields amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite and quartz.

More than 75,000 diamonds have been pulled from the Murfreesboro site since farmer John Huddleston, who owned the land, found the first precious gems in 1906. The site became an Arkansas state park in 1972. The largest diamond ever discovered in the U.S. was unearthed here in 1924. Named the Uncle Sam, the white diamond with a pink cast weighed an astounding 40.23 carats.

The excitement of finding a precious gemstone has made Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park a popular family-fun attraction. In 2015, the park welcomed 168,000 visitors, compared to 51,000 just 10 years earlier.

Credits: Images courtesy of Crater of Diamonds State Park.