"Stand" is a song produced, written, arranged, composed and performed by
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk.
Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...
from his album, ''
Black and White America
''Black and White America'' is the ninth studio album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on August 30, 2011. The album also produced six singles released in 2011 and 2012.
Background
On his official website, Kravitz stated, "I don' ...
'' (2011). It was released as the album's second single and the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
download release date for the song was June 3, 2011. The song was written by Kravitz about a close friend, who was paralyzed from the waist down from an accident, who later recovered.
"Stand" was covered by the cast of the television series ''
Glee
Glee means delight, a form of happiness.
Glee may also refer to:
* Glee (music), a type of English choral music
* ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy
* ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' during the third season.
Critical reception
Matthew Perpetua of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' gave the song a three stars rating out of five commenting "The second single from Kravitz's Black and White America, due out August 30th, borrows the melodic phrasing of vintage cranky
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...
, yet still somehow sounds like a groovy windows-down, volume-up summer hit. It's fluffy stuff, but also a welcome curveball." Melinda Newman of
HitFix
HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
named it "Summer's best song" and explained it is "a perfect pop slice that is implanted into your head after one listen".
Music video
The music video for "Stand" was directed by
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on a ...
. It premiered on
VH1 on July 14, 2011.
In the video, Kravitz portrays three characters: Bart Billingsworth, host of a crooked game show "Run for Your Money" (with some similarities to the old ''Let's Make a Deal''), and the game-show house-band drummer Bubba Washington and lead singer Desmond Richie. The host and his beautiful assistants fraudulently switch the valuable prizes for low-value booby prizes without the contestants figuring it out. However, the drummer sees the back-stage goings-on, and pushes on the button that opens the curtains, so that the audience sees the "Cheat-O-Rama 3000" machine and the host preparing to drive away with the prizes. The audience then gets angry and mobs the stage, seizing the stolen prizes. The host tries to escape with at least some of his ill-gotten gains, but the prize car doesn't work.
Live performances
Lenny Kravitz performed the song on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
''.
Charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2011 singles
Lenny Kravitz songs