In this post of In The Spotlight I’m going to discuss the song, This Is Me, by American actress and singer Keala Settle and is one of the hit songs from the hit American musical The Greatest Showman. In the film she plays a woman known as Lettie Lutz, who is also known or referred to as The Bearded Lady.
Now for me, I picked this song for a number of specific reasons; it’s incredibly uplifting and has a feel-good factor, it’s one of those songs that you just cannot ignore no matter how much you try. But there is another reason why I chose it; the song is about being an outcast and facing social prejudice and coping with discrimination. During the film her character, along with a handful of others face discrimination, rejection, but also harassment so the song is their retaliation.
Whilst the song itself is very empowering there’s a verse in the lyrics which carry a strong message “But I won’t let them break me down to dust, I know that there is a place for us. For we are glorious”. People who are viewed as outcasts are looked down upon and unfairly judged and this is one of the lines from the song which address that directly.
This song carries a lot of meaning and understanding for anyone who has faced discrimination and that alone is a rarity in itself as there are very few songs in modern-day music that speak out about such issues. And let alone about empowerment.
As an artist Keala Settle has an incredible voice and is a vocal force to be reckoned with and there have been attempts by other artists. None of them however, seem to be able to hit it quite in the way that Keale seems to. The song is one that once you know the words you’d probably be highly tempted to sing to it, and in all fairness, who could even blame you.

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