“Never Gonna Break My Faith”: Aretha Franklin ft. The Boys Choir of Harlem
A few months ago I was listening to music on YouTube when I came across a playlist titled Black Lives Matter. It featured music by Black artists about police brutality and racial justice, which is timely considering the multiple police killings of Black people over the summer (not to mention in 2015, 2016 and even before that). One of the songs on the playlist was “Never Gonna Break My Faith” by the late Aretha Franklin. It gave me goosebumps: the power of the message sent chills up my spine because I remembered how confused, scared and sad I was in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and countless other Black people over the summer and in past years. It gave me hope and also made me sit and reflect on how I could do better in the fight against systemic racism and police brutality. I’m still educating myself on these topics, but Aretha’s song reminded me to keep fighting, keep educating myself and to not give up. I’m grateful to my African-American Studies professors for teaching me the importance of listening to and studying the music of African-American artists and musical traditions.
Just some context, the song came out in 2006 as a duet with Mary J. Blige for the film Bobby. It was co-written with Bryan Adams but the solo version of the song wasn’t released for a long time. Adams said in a Rolling Stone interview that when he found out Clive Davis, a longtime producer and friend of Aretha Franklin, was making a biopic about Aretha’s life he sent Davis the previously unreleased version, saying that few people have heard this version and it was time for people to finally hear it. I think especially given the circumstances around the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless other Black people in the summer of 2020, and a subsequent global reckoning with centuries of systemic racism, society needs this song more than ever. This is the article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/aretha-franklin-never-gonna-break-my-faith-solo-version-1017873/
When I first listened to this song I didn’t know there was a music video for it. I had just listened to the audio at the time. But I finally watched the music video today, which came out last summer during the global Black Lives Matter protests. And honestly my description of it would never do justice. It speaks for itself.
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