H.E.R. I Can’t Breathe
Her Emotional Protest Song and Performance
H.E.R. shared the premiere of her masterpiece protest song, “I Can’t Breathe,” during yesterday’s social distancing appearance on iHeartRadio Living Room Series. The singer-songwriter honored George Floyd with a painful, emotional live show with her band. She wrote the song in response to the recent police killings of unarmed black men and women and for the global protests against police brutality and systemic racism. She introduced the song,”I Can’t Breathe” by saying, “Just by the title, you know that it means something very, very painful and very revealing… It’s a conversation about what is happening right now, what’s been happening, and the change we need to see.” The song is incredibly moving, true to the times and strongly soulful.
The song itself is a somber acoustic blues composition led by H.E.R. all the way. H.E.R. sings, “All of the names you can’t remember/was somebody’s brother or friend, son to a crying mother/I can’t breathe, you’re taking my life from me.” H.E.R. haunts us, it made tears gather again in my eyes.
Watch the performance here, which includes a magical and poignant cover of Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
