This is Brave, This is Bruised

May 17, 2022 10:02 PM

She's scared. This performance of a song written only a week ago, before studio heads, will determine if the movie is made. She's hiding behind her music stand. And she starts singing. And the music takes her. And she steps out. And she sings to the backup singers, and you see their eyes light up and they reflect it back at her. And the energy begins to reflect, and spread, and take control of everyone in the room. "This is Me."
posted by MollyRealized (23 comments total)

Everyone can sing! But most of us don’t do so half enough. I have come to believe that singing together is a defining attribute of the human condition. In the 00s, my teenage daughters wanted to do a weekend singing workshop with their pals and Sian Croose; I had to go along as The Adult. For someone who lives in their head, it was a bit uncomfortable.
Sian lets participants decide their own pitch and assemble into sections. She then teaches, by ear and repeat, each section its part. That can be a teensy bit draggy sometimes, but eventually everyone knows their bit and Sian starts one section going on their own. After all the rehearsal, it sounds good. Then she brings in another part which, by accentuating and complementing the first, sounds much richer. When she adds a third part, your first thought is “it can’t get better than this – this is really fine”. But there are two more parts to be woven in! Indeed, there were times when I had to concentrate really hard on just singing my own small bit because if I listened to The Whole, I knew I wouldn’t be able to continue: I would be, as the Victorians had it, unmanned.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:42 PM on May 17, 2022 [12 favorites]

Wow. That really was spine tingling.
posted by Fezzer at 12:25 AM on May 18, 2022 [7 favorites]

It's not my first time hearing this, but somehow it's the first time it got me. The agonizing build of confidence and defiance and joy brought me to tears - twice. Thank you.
posted by abulafa at 4:07 AM on May 18, 2022 [6 favorites]

Crying already and before even some coffee.

Chills.
posted by archimago at 4:09 AM on May 18, 2022 [4 favorites]

My queer choir of about 120 sang this song on stage before the pandammit. With small dance squad and choireography (small synchronized movements of the singers). It was quite ... the thing. Everyone was singing it for themselves and also for each other, and for everyone in the audience who loved us, or doubted us. There's a video.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:48 AM on May 18, 2022 [15 favorites]

Thanks for posting this and for the comments. Music is powerful. Reminds me that I still want to find a uk-style community chorus here in New Jersey. Everything seems to be either Church based (I don’t belong there) or too serious and demanding (I sing just fine but can’t read music). Is there a more polished recording of this (the performance is great and clearly an important moment, but the recording is distracting for me)?
posted by aesop at 4:55 AM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

My screen’s all blurry.
posted by MtDewd at 4:55 AM on May 18, 2022 [5 favorites]

I really needed this today! How incredible.
posted by ukdanae at 5:02 AM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

This song is on my transition playlist. I’m not really a fan of the movie, but this song… is so important to me.
posted by mephron at 5:35 AM on May 18, 2022 [6 favorites]

The movie is problematic to me. The "misfits" only have a space because a mediocre white man gives them one, and he exploits them for his own money and fame. Still, this song is incredibly powerful.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:43 AM on May 18, 2022 [4 favorites]

Holy shit.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:57 AM on May 18, 2022

I needed this today. Thank you.
posted by headspace at 7:32 AM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've seen this many times and love it more every time.

Also, props to guy in the purple zipper sweater for kicking it up a few notches to keep the energy going.
posted by aclevername at 7:55 AM on May 18, 2022 [7 favorites]

I've never seen the movie but I stumbled on the song by accident on Spotify just a couple of weeks ago and fell in love. This was just amazing and I am sooo glad I've seen it.
posted by ceejaytee at 8:29 AM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

Reading the comments here, then listening and watching - I was definately warned! But, I decided to chop some onions this morning anyways. Sniff.
posted by rozcakj at 8:59 AM on May 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Bit of trivia - Hugh Jackman had just undergone surgery for a carcinoma on his face, and his doctor had warned him that under no circumstances was he to sing at this meeting. You can see him actively trying to hold back from joining in... until he just can't NOT sing.
posted by tzikeh at 11:35 AM on May 18, 2022 [5 favorites]

Yes, the movie is deeply flawed but the music is great.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:19 PM on May 18, 2022

Metafilter: Deeply flawed but the music is great
posted by kaibutsu at 1:29 PM on May 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Holy shit indeed. That was awesome!
posted by liquid54 at 5:55 PM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

We sang this in choir and it is one of my favorites of all the pieces I learned during that time.
posted by matildaben at 7:31 PM on May 18, 2022

I've never heard this song or seen the movie. After the comments here, I still don't really want to see the movie...but to see this, to think that this song might not have made it out into the larger world...

That was freaking amazing.
posted by lhauser at 7:42 PM on May 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

A few days ago, I posted a different POV of this exact song … done by the understudy. It’s amazing art too, and I truly believe made me more empathetic toward everyone involved in the creative process. I cried both times!
posted by beckybakeroo at 8:31 PM on May 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Keala Settle (the singer of the song) performs "This Is Me" on the Graham Norton Show, receives an unprecedented response, and goes on to tell the story of how the whole thing came together (hint: Hugh Jackman and booze).
posted by tzikeh at 8:07 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]