I know a lot of musical casts have been using lockdowns to create collaborative 'reunion' type videos, and when I saw this one from Hedwig and the Angry Inch last night it just seemed fitting to share. I particularly love that it didn't just include the most well known Hedwigs, like John Cameron Mitchell, Neil Patrick Harris and Darren Criss, but Jinkx Monsoon! I'm still crushed that I never got to see the show with her in it.
We all have shitty days - the world has been pretty shitty in 2020. What songs help get you in that headspace to cope with shittiness and bring you back to your better self? Please make sure to tell us why they have an uplifting impact on you.
For me, this song is a good reminder of taking the time to do that. Put on some music and do something just for yourself that makes you feel good. Whether that's makeup and wigs, like Hedwig, or something else, find what helps you and embrace it when you need to.
I'm also going to add this one: it's a collab of Happy Together and a family friend features in it.
Omg how did I not know Jinkx had played Hedwig?? God I’d have loved to see that show. Glad Lena Hall’s in here too!
To stick with musical casts in lockdown, this is the first one I saw and I’ve watched it so many times since. It’s just so cute? They’re all clearly having a great time with it, they got SO MANY casts involved, it’s well mixed sound-wise, it’s an upbeat song from one of my favourite musical categories “ensemble all together and you can hear everyone smiling”, I love the at-home choreo and the cameos from some of their families (that baby kicking to the beat ;-; ), and the message of racial solidarity is super important right now. Also it’s from early lockdown when we all thought this might be over soon.
Gonna be honest, one of the songs I listen to when I really need a pick-me-up is "Loser Like Me" from Glee. It's one of the original songs from the show and the performance was just so cute and I really LOVE the lyrics.
Also, ngl "Bet on It" from High School Musical 2 will ALWAYS make my day haha.
^^ Thanks to Menine for the icon & Gremlin for this userbar!
Music is something that has always resonated with me.
Side note: I got to go on stage with my family during a BNL concert, and it was a legitimate highlight of my life. (Dad got us VIP tickets because he was part of the event)
If you don't know who the Barenaked Ladies are, they do the themesong for The Big Bang Theory among other things. I really suggest their discography if you need something uplifting.
The first is one that's personally important to me that I wanted to share. It's Phil Collins - "You'll Be In My Heart."
The movie from which this song hails isn't perfect - no Disney movie is - but the message of the song is beautiful.
My wife and I have had this as "our song" for years. The movie and thus the song came out the year we got together, and things weren't always sunshine and roses acceptance wise within some parts of the family. So the message of this song (while not in the context reflected in the film) resonated with us.
The second is also from a movie which is not a perfect film -- I think they would have been better off just making this story up from scratch than basing it "in fact" -- but the message is beautiful and I love it. Keala Settle is amazing, and the rest of the chorus here are rock stars.
"This Is Me" - The Greatest Showman Cast (Keala Settle is the primary soloist)