New Radicals, You Get What You Give | Music Lifts

In the 12^th edition of Music Lifts (2025), we’re uplifted by New Radicals performing “You Get What You Give.”

Welcome to Music Lifts , a column highlighting songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs exuding 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 12^th edition of Music Lifts (2025), we highlight “You Get What You Give” as performed by New Radicals.

“One dance left, this world is gonna pull through.” Perhaps those lyrics meant something different in 1998. However, those words Gregg Alexander sings remain relevant well into the 2020s.  Another lyric that remains potent and thoughtful: “Don’t give up, you’ve got a reason to live.” Yes! Sometimes, bands only release one album. That is the case with New Radicals, which was comprised of Alexander and Danielle Brisebois primarily. Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too was their sole LP, released in 1998.  The song to beat on Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too is the second track and single, “You Get What You Give”. It gave the band a top 40 hit, peaking at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100.  “Give” was written by Alexander and Rick Nowels. Alexander produced it.

“You Get What You Give” is a feel-good, uplifting pop/rock classic. Yes, the song sounds 1990s, pre-2000 through and through.  That is part of its charm pushing 30 years later.  The encouraging vibes to those reckless, liberal kids are not dated but rather timeless. Gregg Alexander ‘brings up’ the youth with his terrific tenor. “Wake up, kids, we got the dreamers’ disease / Age fourteen, they got you down on your knees,” Alexander sings in the first verse.  Just like in the 1990s, the kids of the 2020s aspire, which some parents and conservative society desire to snuff out. Beyond battling narrow-minded views, Alexander criticizes the ‘bad rich,’ asserting, “God’s flying in for your trial.” Oh, snap! With a crazy, unpredictable world, Gregg encourages us not to be scared: “This whole damn world could fall apart / You’ll be okay, follow your heart.” The chorus is the section to beat:

“You’ve got the music in you

Don’t let go, you’ve got the music in you

One dance left, this world is gonna pull through

Don’t give up, you’ve got a reason to live

Can’t forget, we only get what we give.”

No matter what happens, New Radicals encourage us to give our all – don’t give up or fall victim to fears.  Live life to the best of your ability. “You Get What You Give” remains the sugar honey iced tea, with its thoughtful messaging, it’s seize-the-day, assertiveness, and celebrity shade (“Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson /… You’re all fakes, run to your mansions / Come around, we’ll kick your ass in”).  #CLASSIC!

New Radicals // Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too // UMG Recordings, Inc. // 1998

New Radicals, You Get What You Give: Music Lifts No. 12 (2025) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; BD Jewel, Dave H, Jean-Daniel Francoeur, Joshua Brown, Vansh Mehta from Pexels; AcatXIo, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]