There is a video on YouTube that has been getting a lot of attention. In the video, a group of children who are battling cancer lip-sync to a song by Kelly Clarkson that is called “Stronger”. The video is very positive, and uplifting. It is a way to give hope not only to these kids, but to others who also are fighting a serious disease.
Kelly Clarkson has an album that is called “Stronger”. It was released in 2011. It includes a song that is titled: “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”. The song was written by Jorgen Elofsson, Ali Tamposi, David Gamson, and Greg Kurstin and it was preformed by Kelly Clarkson.
American Songwriter had an interview with Ali Tamposi. She said the group wrote the song in September of 2010. She was in an incredibly bad mood because her boyfriend wasn’t answering her calls and someone said that they saw him out with another girl. Ali, feeling overwhelmed, didn’t want to go to the writing session.
Her mother gave her advice. She said: “Ali, what doesn’t kill you is going to make you stronger and its not going to kill you”. Ali wrote that down, and a song was born. She describes the song as “empowering”.
Other people are finding it to be a very empowering song as well. A twenty-two year old named Chris Rumble is fighting cancer. He decided to make a video with the children who were cancer patients at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital. He got some production assistance from hospital staffers and film students from Seattle University.
The video shows the kids, their parents, and the hospital staff lip-syncing to the song “Stronger”. Several hold signs that have the word “Stronger” written on them. The kids got the opportunity to just be kids for a little while. They sing, and hold up signs with the word “Stronger” written on them. A child rides an intravenous pole through the hallways. Another rides a bike as a nurse follows along behind him with an intravenous pole. One of the kids is playing with legos.
It is clear that the song “Stronger” has become something of a battle cry. Lyrics include: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller. Doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone. What doesn’t kill you makes a fighter, Footsteps even lighter, Doesn’t mean I’m over cause you’re gone.”
The video has become super popular, and Kelly Clarkson has become aware of it. She took the time to record her own video message to the kids who were in the video. In a day when many record labels are intensely interested in suing people who use music they own without their permission, it is incredibly lovely to see Kelly Clarkson talking about how the video was “amazing”, and that it made her day.
Image by Kelly Walker on Flickr