Andra Day’s “Rise Up,” with lyrics like “When the silence isn’t quiet and it feels like it’s getting hard to breathe,” has become the unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement.
And the Grammy-nominated singer delivered a stripped-down but moving rendition of that song alongside a guitar player for the concert series portion of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture Virtual Experience last weekend.
After her performance Day did a quick riff on Johniqua Charles’s impromptu “Lose Yo’ Job” jam. Dressed casually in distressed jeans and a green tank top, Day did a li’l hair toss and chair dance as she recited Charles’s catchy chorus: “You about to lose your job. You about to lose your job. Get this dance. ’Cause you are detaining me for nothing.” Then she blew a kiss to the screen and said, “I love y’all. Bye!”
Charles made up “Lose Yo’ Job” after security guard Julius Locklear prevented her from reentering a strip club in Dillion, South Carolina. Charles was trying to get her purse, which she left inside the club. Her words were later remixed by iMarkkeyz and DJ Suede the Remix God.
Look for Day to portray civil rights activist and renown jazz singer Billie Holiday in Lee Daniel’s forthcoming biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight, Bird Box) plays Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, the man who led the investigation into Holiday’s narcotic use. Fletcher also had an affair with the singer.
Catch more singers, including Ledisi, Bruno Mars, Bell Biv DeVoe, Rapsody and more during #ESSENCEFEST on Saturday.