I'm Standing with You

Album: Breakthrough (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • Diane Warren penned "I'm Standing with You" as the end credits song for the faith-based movie Breakthrough. The film tells the true story of 15-year-old John Smith, who slipped through an icy Missouri lake. John stayed under for over 15 minutes and was proclaimed dead but amazed doctors by regaining a pulse. He made a full recovery thanks to the faith and prayers of his hometown residents.

    Actress Chrissy Metz (Kate Pearson in the NBC drama This Is Us) plays John's adoptive mother, Joyce. She laid down the vocals for this song.
  • Warren watched the movie first to get some ideas before writing the song. The scene that stood out for her was a climactic moment toward the end when the preacher asks everybody to stand who had faith that John would get better.

    "To see the community rally around him, that stayed with me," Warren recalled to The Hollowood Reporter. "The next day, I sat at the piano and started singing that chorus."

    Through whatever you go through
    I'm standin' with you
    Here wherever you go to
    I'll stand beside you


    Warren added: "The chorus wrote itself. It made me cry. It's simple, but it resonates."
  • The uplifting anthem resonates at a time when people feel isolated by digital culture. "It's about standing with somebody: Whatever you go through, I'm standing with you," said Warren. "That's a powerful statement. We're all so connected, but we're all so alone."
  • The song's theme of standing together and supporting those who are suffering took on a whole new meaning during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. 170 artists from six continents joined forces to sing the song in support of the United Nations Foundations COVID-19 Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

    Warren teamed up with arranger Sharon Farber and director Gev Miron for the video which showcases the epic interpretation.

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