Cynthia Erivo, “Stand Up” | Music Lifts 🎶 🏋

In the 7^th edition of Lit Music That Lifts, we’re uplifted by Cynthia Erivo performing, “Stand Up” from the motion picture, Harriet.

Welcome to Lit Music That Lifts (LMTL), or Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 for short! Music Lifts seeks to highlight songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the 7^th edition of Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 (2022), we highlight 🎵 “Stand Up” as performed by 🎙 Cynthia Erivo.

“That’s when I’m gonna stand up / Take my people with me / Together we are going to a brand-new home.” 🏆 Academy-award nominated actress/singer 🎙 Cynthia Erivo delivered a powerful, magnificent vocal on 🎵 “Stand Up”, the featured song from the biopic, 🎦 Harriet.  “Stand Up” embodies the lengths that abolitionist Harriet Tubman went to free her people. Even though “Stand Up” is a specific, soundtrack cut, it also works extremely well outside of the film.  Had it not been for icons 🎙 Elton John and 🎙 Bernie Taupin (🎵 “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”), Erivo might’ve walked out with an 🏆 Oscar for Best Original Song.

“I do what I can when I can while I can for my people

While the clouds roll back, and the stars fill the night.”

Erivo penned this thoughtful, resolute, and moving number alongside 🎼✍ Joshuah Brian Campbell.  During the verses, the music embodies slaves marching onward to freedom, which is a thoughtful musical effect.  Lyrically, of course, the verses reflect the journey – that fight for better days and a better life.  Of course, the centerpiece is the chorus, which Erivo delivers with incredibly powerful optimism and strength:

“So, I’m gonna stand up

Take my people with me

Together we are going to a brand-new home

Far across the river

Can you hear freedom calling?

Calling me to answer

Gonna keep on keepin’ on.”

The takeaway? Take the spirit of “Stand Up” with you in the adversities – however big or small – you face in life.  Believe you can overcome and conquer. Channel your inner Harriet Tubman!

Appears in 🔻:

• Stand: 5ive Songs No. 25 (2022)

🎙 Various Artists • 💿 Harriet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) • 🏷 Focus Features LLC / Back Lot Music • 📅 2019

Cynthia Erivo, “Stand Up”: Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 No. 7 (2022) [📷: Arek Socha, Back Lot Music, Benjamin Balazs, Brent Faulkner, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Curb, Focus Features LLC,  Ketut Subiyanto, The Musical Hype, Pexels, Pixabay, Word Entertainment]