You're So Beautiful

Album: Empire Season 1 (2015)
Charted: 47
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is sung by Empire cast members Jussie Smollett (Jamal Lyon) and Bryshere Y. Gray (Hakeem Lyon). Smollett is a former child star, who co-starred in a number of films, including The Mighty Ducks (1992) and North (1994). Gray has been rapping since he was a teenager in West Philadelphia, under the stage name Yazz the Greatest.
  • "You're So Beautiful" featured in The Lyon's Roar episode of Empire when Jamal decides to come clean about his sexual orientation. He comes out of the closet by changing the lyrics of his father's hit song to, "this the kind of song that makes a man love a man."
  • Empire co-producer Ilene Chaiken told The Hollywood Reporter she loves the way this song tells a story. "We knew that Jamal was going to come out by singing - by doing a cover and changing the gender pronoun," she said. "We didn't know in the beginning that it was going to be one of his father's songs, but as the stories progressed, we came up with the idea of making it one of Lucious' songs to create all of this extra drama around it."

    "As Danny (Strong) was getting to write this episode, we had already recorded 'You're So Beautiful,' and there was a specific request for a song like that - a song for Jamal that was more upbeat, a more pop sensibility after he had done so many great soulful R&B ballads," Chaiken continued. "We were getting close to the end, and we hadn't used 'You're So Beautiful,' so I said [we should] make it the coming out song, but then we had to go back and make an old school version and a family version, too."

Comments: 1

  • Ademola Yusuf Md from Nigeria,oyo State, Ogbomoso North.Perfect acting.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins

Tom Bailey of Thompson TwinsSongwriter Interviews

Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.

Krishna Das

Krishna DasSongwriter Interviews

The top chant artist in the Western world, Krishna Das talks about how these Hindu mantras compare to Christian worship songs.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.