The music industry is showing its support for the victims of the attack at the gay nightclub Pulse with the new charity song for the Orlando victims, "Hands." The tribute song features a total of 24 musical artists, including Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, Pink, and RuPaul, the single offers a message of hope, love, and support. The song is available on iTunes for purchase (it's for a good cause, folks), and proceeds from "Hands" will be distributed by the Equality Florida Pulse Victims Fund, the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, and GLAAD to assist the victims and their families with medical care and counseling.
With lyrics like "Doesn't matter who you love/All that matters is your love," "Hands" was written by Justin Tranter — a songwriter who works with Selena Gomez and Gwen Stefani, and penned Justin Bieber's "Sorry." Billboard reported that Tranter was on Gomez's tour bus in Miami when the June 12 shootings that killed 49 people and injured 53 occurred at Pulse nightclub. He signed up to volunteer at the LGBTQ community center The Center Orlando and met with GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis the next day where they discussed how else he could help.
Both Tranter and Ellis, who are members of the LGBTQ community, wanted the song to be a reminder that the Orlando massacre was a hate crime that targeted the LGBTQ community and people of Latin heritage since the attack occurred during the gay club's Latin Night. Along with using the proceeds of the single to help the victims and their loves ones, Ellis told Billboard that they will also be used to fund educational programs. "When you hear the song it talks about hate being the driver here and that's important because we have to be able to identify what's driving these cruel acts in order to stop them," Ellis said. "Artists using their platforms to accelerate acceptance is very powerful."
The artists on the single run the gamut of the music industry. These are all the acts who've lent their voices to the good cause:
Mary J. Blige
Jason Derulo
Tyler Glenn
Selena Gomez
Halsey
Ty Herndon
Imagine Dragons
Juanes
Adam Lambert
Mary Lambert
Jennifer Lopez
The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles
Kacey Musgraves
MNEK
Alex Newell
Pink
Prince Royce
Nate Ruess
RuPaul
Britney Spears
Troye Sivan
Jussie Smollett
Gwen Stefani
Meghan Trainor
While the musicians were not able to record the song from the same location — Tranter told Billboard that the recordings took place all over the country, wherever the artists were located at the time — they were still united in their purpose. Although a song will not ease the pain the victims and their loved ones have suffered because of this horrific attack, these artists have helped to bring awareness and aid to the people directly impacted by this tragedy. Besides contributing by downloading the song, there are many other ways you can help the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history while the nation still mourns.
