Remember Nashville? You know, the show with all the country singers and Connie Britton reigning like the absolute fire-haired goddess that she is, despite so many car accidents, abortions, divorces and cheating that I can only lovingly label the entire thing a soap opera? Yeah, I stopped watching it too, mostly because I just got busy with my own soap opera life, but apparently it’s still going strong without me and entered its fifth season earlier this month. It’s probably still good, maybe I’ll start watching it again.
I’m bringing up Nashville though, because I forgot that the girls who play Rayna’s daughters on the show have transitioned to become IRL musicians, as well the should. If there’s one thing I love, it’s pre-teen girls absolutely owning their role as artists, and there is no other word for the way these two can harmonize, perform, lightly dance, and steal my heart with their tremendous, golden voices. In the entertainment industry you often hear people talking about “it,” that magical intangible that transforms a mere performer into a star. Well, Lennon & Maisy have “it” any way you slice it.
They really began in 2012 when they were a little younger and still pulled off an entirely acapella version of Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend”:
Damn, I don’t think I could ever pull off that kind of personal percussion, let alone as a pre-teen.
Or there was that time in 2015 when they took on Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap”:
The original of this song is still wild underrated, by the way.
They’ve done a number of other songs in the meantime, but today, they shared their latest cover, a rendition of Coldplay’s “Up And Up,” one of the more serious and tender ballads they’ve done. They’ve evolved past feeling the need to provide their own percussion, and instead focused on some goofy dancing surrounded by a group of kids wearing shirts that say “Be Love.”
There have been a lot of points in my life where I would’ve passed over this video and dismissed it for not being “cool,” but hell, if it doesn’t make me tear up this week, while watching politicians lobby to effectively sentence thousands of Americans to death with the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
“When you’re in pain / When you think you’ve had enough / Don’t ever give up.” That message resonates with me this week. Remember, these girls are 13 and 17. I’m rooting for them. If you really like the song you can also get it on iTunes.
