Song that includes the act of depending, leaning, relying, or trusting another
Recipe For Success
Rise Up — Andra Day (2015)
Some songs arrive in your life.
Others quietly hold your hand through it.
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme — depending, leaning, relying, or trusting another — I chose Rise Up by Andra Day.
There are songs that are beautiful.
And then there are songs that somehow understand pain without needing explanation.
For me, Rise Up is one of those songs.
Released in 2015, Rise Up was written by Andra Day alongside songwriter and producer Jennifer Decilveo. The song became Andra Day’s breakthrough hit and has gone on to inspire millions through its message of resilience, hope, and perseverance.
At its heart, Rise Up is about strength.
Not the loud kind.
But the quiet strength that appears when life becomes hard.
The kind that says:
We keep going.
Even when we are tired.
Even when life hurts.
Even when we are afraid.
“And I’ll rise up, in spite of the ache…”
Those words feel deeply personal to me.
The music video especially touched my heart. Watching the story unfold — love, caregiving, disability, and standing beside someone through unimaginable change — felt strangely familiar.
Life does not always unfold the way we imagined.
Sometimes love changes shape.
Sometimes the roles we carry within a relationship shift.
My husband once helped me rise after leaving an abusive relationship. He helped me trust again, laugh again, and believe that love could feel safe.
And now, after illness, hardship, and life changing in ways neither of us expected, I find myself standing beside him through different storms.
Twenty-three years together has taught me something important:
Real love is not only found in easy moments.
It is found in staying.
In helping each other stand when one of you cannot.
In carrying hope for the other person when they are too tired to carry it themselves.
That, to me, is what Rise Up truly means.
Not standing alone.
But rising together.
And perhaps that is why songs matter.
Sometimes they say the things our hearts already know — long before we find the words ourselves.
You're broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can't find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
We gonna walk it out And move mountains
And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
And I'll rise up
High like the waves
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
For you
For you
For you
For you
When the silence isn't quiet
And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe
And I know you feel like dying
But I promise we'll take the world to its feet
And move mountains
Bring it to its feet
And move mountains
And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
For you
For you
For you
For you
All we need, all we need is hope
And for that we have each other
And for that we have each other
And we will rise
We will rise
We'll rise,
oh, oh
We'll rise
I'll rise up
Rise like the day
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I will rise a thousand times again
And we'll rise up
High like the waves
We'll rise up
In spite of the ache
We'll rise up
And we'll do it a thousand times again
For you
For you
For you
For you
Ah, ah, ah, ah
With love
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
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