Hollywood Records is set to release the When We Rise digital soundtrack on February 24. The album features cover songs culled from the eight-hour miniseries event, including "I'd Love to Change the World" performed by Hollywood Records artist Jordan Fisher. The song opens the February 27th two-hour premiere directed by Gus Van Sant. Additional tracks are "California" performed by Fancy ("Goodbye"), who has toured with Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande; "Tie Your Mother Down" performed by Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile and "Wonderwall" by Hollywood Records artist Zella Day.
When We Rise was written and created by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. This mini-series event chronicles the real-life personal and political struggles, set-backs and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBTQ people who helped pioneer the Equality Movement. The eight-hour mini-series airs from 9:00pm -11:00 pm on Monday, February 27, Wednesday, March 1, Thursday, March 2 and Friday, March 3.
On the music's integral role in the mini-series, Dustin Lance Black said, "Music has a unique, magical ability to transport us through time and space... the ability to remind us how we once felt and help us feel again. When We Rise asks viewers to travel through four and half decades in only eight hours using their hearts as guides. Music made it possible for us to move that fast and still feel as deeply as these stories demand. So how did we choose which songs? I asked myself: 'What songs from the past will instantly transport us in time and help our audience land in the heart of the story?'"
On selecting artists to record the cover songs, Black added, "From the beginning, we knew we would need to utilize period music, but When We Rise has never been about nostalgia, it was designed as a flame—a torch to be passed from one generation to the next. Honoring that idea, we chose songs from 1971 to today and sought out a diverse group of the most talented, inspired artists of tomorrow to bring their passion to these iconic works in hopes of calling their generation to the struggle for equality, while inspiring an older generation to return to the fight. I believe it is the lessons of the past, used like swords by the youth of tomorrow, that will finally secure equal rights for all in the world—so it was only fitting that these songs of our past be born again in the most ardent voices of tomorrow."