Lift Me Up (Reprise Version / Commentary)

So in 2004, I was in a very strange place. I was, you know, I'd Started doing way too many drugs, drinking every night, way too much Uh, really starting to wrestle with some depression, some anxiety And I released the album Hotel. And there are some songs on Hotel That I'm not that proud of. Like, I think I could have done a much Better job writing them, arranging them, recording them. But one of The songs that ended up being arguably the biggest single I've ever Had in a lot of different countries was "Lift Me Up." And I was very Excited to revisit "Lift Me Up" for Reprise. I was excited because I Wanted to make it even darker and even more sort of urgent, you know Because a lot of Reprise is very pretty or is delicate, and "Lift Me Up," you know, the version that's on Reprise is quite bombastic. So The thing that makes this version of "Lift Me Up" a lot different Than the album version, apart from the tempo changes, but the main Thing is the choir. Because I wanted, I love a giant choir. So I Built this choir during the pandemic, and when I say built, what I did was I sent the session to a bunch of my friends who are Musicians, who have deep voices or powerful voices, like my friend Laura, and I got them all to sing the chorus in unison. And then Jonathan Nesvadba, who's the co-producer of the record, he and His brother, they sang choruses. I sang the chorus probably 40 Times, and I layered the choir vocals in the chorus. So in each Chorus, there are roughly 200 voices, thanks to the magic of Technology. And I have to say, building this choir during the Pandemic was a really fun process. And I wanted, you know, for " Lift Me Up," it should have this Sturm und Drang, if I'm using that Expression correctly. And the choir, I think, really helps with that