H.E.R. released a new song from Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming film Judas and the Black Messiah called “Fight For You” after it picked up a 2021 Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. She also just finished her debut live performance for the track on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Fight For You” is a song that pulls from the style of ’60s/’70s soul artists like Marvin Gaye, complete with modern iterations of the revolutionary themes Black musicians of that era were singing about. After a drum intro and proclamatory horn blasts, H.E.R. comes in over a strong bass line, shortly kicking off with the words, “All the smoke in the air/Feel the hate when they stare/All the pain that we bare/Oh you better beware/Their guns don’t play fair/All we got is a prayer/It was all in their plans/Wash the blood from your hands.”
The bass groove and H.E.R.’s performance are the core of the song, with guitar fills, old school organs and strings sitting farther back in the mix. Simple drums and supporting vocals fill out the rest of the sound. By the end of the track, the instrumental proves itself to be as powerful as the socially relevant lyrics in its own right as H.E.R. improvises over the outro for the last minute.
H.E.R. produced and wrote the track with Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, with help on the writing from Tiara Thomas. The song will be on Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album along with tracks from Nas, SiR, A$AP Rocky, Dom Kennedy, White Dave and more. It arrives in full on February 12, the same day that the movie hits streaming on HBO Max and select theaters.
Now that she’s through the Colbert performance, H.E.R.’s next live appearance is for an even larger audience – singing “America is Beautiful” during Super Bowl LV this Sunday, February 7. In related news, Jazmine Sullivan, who featured H.E.R. on her recent song “Girl Like Me,” will be singing the national anthem at the event in collaboration with Eric Church.
Leave a Comment