Ben Harper Shares Positive New Song “Black Beauty”

Singer songwriter Ben Harper has just released a brand new song, “Black Beauty,” for the 2020 documentary “Black Boys,” which highlights and celebrates Black boys and men in America. In a press release, “Black Boys” is said to be a film that “reveals the emotional landscape of racism—of how it feels to walk through the world seen as something to be feared.”

Harper openly expressed the excitement and gratitude that he felt when creating the song for the film. He stated in a press release, “It was an honor to have been asked to write a song for this culturally vital documentary. After watching ‘Black Boys’ and discussing it in depth with [director] Sonia Lowman, I went immediately to work on composing ‘Black Beauty…’”

“Black Beauty” is a song that embodies what Black men and boys stand for. The inspiring lyrics intertwined with the outstandingly positive vocal tones and instrumental sound perfectly bring this song together. “I am an astronaut/ I am a president/ I am a revolutionary/ I’m your neighbor/ We are black/ We are black/ We are beautiful/ So beautiful.”

The importance of “Black Beauty” is not only that the humanity of Black men and boys is to be celebrated, but it’s also to shed light on the struggle emotional aspect of being a Black male in America. The music video that was released for “Black Beauty” perfectly matches the message that Harper was trying to achieve in the song. The video shows Black boys and men of all ages smiling, participating in sports, learning in a classroom, spending time with friends and family and overall just enjoying themselves.

Harper recently had the opportunity to work with other artists like Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Sheryl Crow and more on Starr’s recent single “Here’s to the Nights.” The track is set to be featured on Starr’s upcoming EP titled Zoom In. 

In September of 2020, Harper announced the release of his all-instrumental album Winter is for Lovers, which would be his seventh as a solo artist. The 15-track album was eventually released on October 23, 2020 under ANTI-Records.