"I didn't expect the impact": Andra Day reflects on "Rise Up" and why she's OK being called a "diva"

For the past near decade, "Rise Up" has been an American anthem. The track has been blasted everywhere, from subways stations and youth basketball games, to political campaign rallies and television commercials. Many know the lyrics, but may not know that Andra Day, the songstress behind "Rise Up," is just as inspiring.

Andra Day blew on to the scene with her Grammy Award-winning debut album "Cheers to the Fall." In 2020, she took to the silver screen to star as Billie Holiday in the Lee Daniels film "The United States vs. Billie Holiday." For her performance, Day won a Golden Globe and snagged an Oscar nomination. Day teamed up with Daniels again for the film "The Deliverance," streaming now on Netflix.

"The Deliverance" is a supernatural horror film based on the true story. In the movie, Day plays Ebony Jackson, a single mother of three who fell on hard times, moving her family into three different homes over the course of a few months. This all happens while Jackson's mom Alberta, played by Glenn Close, is getting treated for cancer and loses her insurance coverage, leaving Ebony to pick up the bill. As if things can't get worse, their new home happens to be possessed by the devil.

During our "Salon Talks" conversation, I asked Day how she was able to stomach playing someone going through so much pain, with the backdrop of a demonic presence, in a film that's wrapped in truth. Her answer was simple, "God."

“We've all sort of dealt with pain, we've dealt with trauma, we've dealt with what felt like a hopeless scenario,” Day explained. “But I would argue that maybe more of us have seen God because even the ability to fight through it, I think is actually a godly thing.”

Watch my "Salon Talks" episode with Andra Day here or read the Q&A below to hear more about "The Deliverance," why she couldn’t read the script at night, the joys of staring opposite Close and why her "Rise Up" almost didn’t see the light of day.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Your new movie “The Deliverance” gets described as a horror film, a thriller and as faith-based. What should we expect when watching this?

Thank you for bringing that up, obviously we keep hearing that it's horror because there are horror aspects to the film, but I think that’s actually a really limiting description. It's really made me sort of question the names of genres when it comes to just movies and music in general.

The film has so many different elements. It's really not a traditional horror movie, it's really not a classic horror movie. It's a family drama where my character and the women in this movie are dealing with a lot of generational trauma. So the horror aspect is that they're fighting actual physical demons, fighting the devil. 

It's a movie about a possession. It's based on a true story, but there's also the internal, them battling their own internal demons. So there's that metaphor as well, which makes it a family drama. It's a thriller, it's definitely faith-based. We actually watch her come to faith in the film. It's also definitely a horror movie. There's a lot of aspects to the film, and I think for people who don't typically watch horror, they would be remiss to not see it just based off of that label.

It's a true story. Walking on set, were you scared?

I think initially when I was reading the script, I was scared. I wouldn't read it at night, after the sun dropped, after a certain [time]. I'm so serious. [Laughter.] 

Did you know the story?

I wasn't familiar with the story so it was all new to me. I'm looking at the story and I'm looking at the script, and [Latoya Ammons, who Day’s character is based on] has only done maybe two interviews, maybe, mostly keeps herself from the public. I'm reading this, I'm soaking up the information about it, and after a while I realized, at the end of the day I had to put it down. I was hesitant in the beginning just because I am a believer. I do believe in the spirit realm, and I'm a very spiritual person.

So I think I was of the ilk and of the mindset that we are not supposed to touch those things. We're not supposed to talk about them, we're not supposed to. But then I actually kind of felt sort of what I call conviction, that was like, "No, actually, if I believe these things are real, then I need to show that we have authority over these things." That if you're going to be light in the world, then you should be light in dark places, that's where it works best. I thought it was really beautiful for that. I think people want everything to be clean and perfect all the time, but that's just not the life that we live. I love that it shows that in the movie.

This is where I feel like I'm a horrible capitalist. I was thinking, "Yo, so if I buy a house and then I move in and it’s possessed, you can’t rent it, you can’t give it back, how do you put it back on the market?"

You're a visionary. [Laughter.] Or you know what? Even better than that, make sure the haunting story goes public so somebody can make a movie out of it, and then you can make some money. Now, that's capitalism right there.

The cast was so impressive. You, Mo'Nique, Glenn Close, Caleb McLaughlin and just a collection of other talented people. Lee Daniels directing. I was like, “Yo, is Glenn Close Black and I didn't know? What's happening?”

Oh, child. Oh, she was so locked in.

Glenny from the block.

Yes. [Laughter.] I'm going to tell her about that nickname; she's going to like that. No, she was so locked in. 

What was a day on set like?

A day on set. So first of all, for me, at least the first day on set, very intimidating, but exciting at the same time. I just knew, "If I'm here and I'm present and I'm working hard, I'm going to get a lot from these women, right?" Glenn Close, icon. Mo'Nique, icon. Aunjanue Ellis, same. The kids are iconic. Caleb McLaughlin, "Stranger Things." Demi Singleton, Anthony Jenkins, Omar Epps. I just knew that if I'm present and I'm here, then I know I'm going to glean a lot from Lee, and I know I'm going to glean a lot from them. 

But a day on set was an emotional rollercoaster for sure. There was a lot of prayer on set for those who wanted to pray. It was also funny as hell. I can't help but just sit here and think all of these women on set, they're thespians, they're great. they're amazing at what they do and they're legendary. But they're also hella funny and just really cool at the same time.

Glenn, I love her so much. I still call her “Ma Glenn” because she has such a youthful childlike energy to her. Her energy moving in these spaces, picking up certain things, it was amazing to watch. Mo'Nique is Mo'Nique, so ain't no way you're not going to be laughing all day. On set was an emotional rollercoaster. It was full of laughs, love and light. It was the opposite of what you would think for the movie.

You play Ebony. Ebony has an edge. It comes from addiction, personal setbacks, a complex relationship with her mom. What do you have to do emotionally to convey so much pain? After the first 10 minutes of the film, I'm like, "Check on Andra. Is she OK?"

Yeah. You know what's funny? A friend of mine texted me that. He was like, "I just saw the movie. It's amazing. Do me a favor, go on vacation, please."

From the moment you see her in the film, this is a new start for her, right? She's in a new house, but that does not mean that she's fully healed. She also realizes the pressure is on. What we don't know in the beginning is that DCS is coming for her children, they're not believing her; she is a single mother. You don't know that her mother now lives in the house with her, and it is a troubled relationship. She's facing all this trauma again, so though she is looking forward to this new start, it's about “How do I keep this well of trauma and pain from infiltrating the new life I'm trying to create with my kids?”

It's really interesting. I think I had to deal with my own imposter syndrome and my own, "I am not good enough. There's no way I can make this work." And it's a heavy burden to walk into every day with that weight on your shoulder. For her, it was exponentially more because she's a mother of three kids.

There were actually a lot of things within myself that I had to dredge up and face and reconcile in order to play her. I needed to experience it myself. As a Black woman, we have the experiences, but to actually deal with them and face them, it's really a story of overcoming. So I had to actually face them and go through that process in order to play her properly, if that makes sense.

She made me think of the late great poet Amiri Baraka. He has this poem called “Somebody Blew Up America.” And he has a line, and I'm going to butcher it a little bit, "Few of us have seen God, everyone knows the devil." He's talking about Black people in this country and poverty, and she made me think of that.

Yeah. Wow. Wow. I love that.

What does that line mean to you?

To me personally, it means we have all faced a level of despair that could and should maybe bring most people to hopelessness. It really speaks to me about hopelessness. That's what it sounds like to me.

I think there are a lot of moments in the movie where you will see Ebony and a lot of the characters have to fight hopelessness. We've all sort of dealt with pain, we've dealt with trauma, we've dealt with what felt like a hopeless scenario. But I think I would argue that maybe more of us have seen God than we think, because I think even the ability to fight through it, I think is actually a godly thing.

What kind of advice would you give to a friend who is fighting to overcome their own demons?

I'm a praying person, I'm an obsessively praying person. I believe in the scripture that says to pray without ceasing. I know that not everybody shares the same faith, but in my own, praying before the interaction, that’s something that I do. And then listening, I think that's a really difficult thing for people, including myself, to do sometimes – to really listen and hear what it is they're going through.

But the reason I pray before that is because I'm always asking God for insight about not just the words that they're saying, but what's actually happening behind [those words]. My thing would be to pray before the interaction, pray with the person if they're willing, and for them if they're not, and to also listen to them and to abide with them. You know what I mean? To empathize. I think to really go through something with someone, not necessarily that you have to take on the same characteristics. But to go through something with someone, that's grace. I think that's powerful. I think maybe we underestimate the walking, the journey.

The movie is necessary, it's a heavy watch. But I must admit that listening to your new album “Cassandra” was easier on my spirit.

Good, good. Please let it be easier than a demon movie.

It's such a great album. It's inspiring. It's encompassing for the listener. You are an entertainer. Have you always seen yourself as a performer?

Thank you. Yeah, for sure. There was never a plan B. When I was young, I would randomly get interested in things. I was obsessed with paleontology at one point. I was like, "I love dinosaurs. I love fossils and bones. I love digging.” I'd be in the backyard all the time. “Maybe that's what I'll do.” Then I was like, "Maybe I'll be a lawyer," because I just was arguing down when I was a child, but that was never actually real. 

It was always music for me, particularly. I think my only question was really because I went to a performing arts school and the focus was musical theater, "OK, do I do Broadway? Or do I do recorded music?" And that became kind of apparent pretty early on when I was about 14, 15, 16. So no, I've always seen myself as a creative, truly. I've always seen myself as a performer, as an entertainer, and a musician, a singer. It's always been that realm. There's never been anything else.

Do you ever go back and watch things that you've acted in? Did you go back and watch “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”?

No, no, I don't. I think I watched it one time the night before it was supposed to be released, I don't know why. I had a crazy case of FOMO, so I was like, "Oh, let me go watch it." I watched it with my mom. I cried, I just went through all these different ranges of emotion. And then I just put it down and I haven't watched it since.

I was at a different period in my life. I've processed that. That's what I needed to do, and now it's for the world to help them process their things. I've listened maybe a little bit to this album, different songs and different things, especially because social media forces you to look at everything over and over again.

I thought you might revisit the music more than a film.

Yeah, but even that, it's not an easy thing for me to do. It's very difficult. I have a couple songs that I'm like, "Oh, maybe this I'll listen to." And like I said, social media, when you're promoting the record, you obviously have to listen to it more. Maybe years down the line I'll kind of revisit things, but usually once it's done, I'm like, "Cool. That chapter's closed for me." Now it's used to help navigate other chapters for other people.

Did you know “Rise Up” was going to be an American anthem? Did you know it was going to blow up like that? Did it happen too fast for you? 

No. It was actually super slow. Now it's so ubiquitous, it just seems like, "Oh, it just popped and it was everywhere very quickly." That was not the case, it was kind of a slow burn. I feel like I did not know that it would be what it has become. To me, that's God, that's the Lord, but I wasn't even going to put it on the original record.

I went in with a finished record, and right before we were about to release, they said, "We want to play you a song." I just remember thinking, "No." And they were like, "You wrote it." And I said, "Well, let me listen to it." So they played it for me, and it just did the thing that it seems to often do now, which is it sort of sucked the air out of the room. 

It was really no argument for me. I was like, "Yeah, no, I agree. This definitely needs to be on the record." But they tried to go juice it up, put this crazy beat on it, and then try to do a DJ beat. Then they tried to do an EDM beat to it, and every time the song was just like, "I am who I am."

Also, I didn't expect the impact to be what it was intra-personally. When I tour and I do meet and greets, I've met more people that have contemplated and attempted to end their own life, I've met more people that have struggled with cancer, had lost a family member, had dealt with depression than I have in my entire life, but it's always actually been a really uplifting experience. I realized, "Oh, I might've thought of success, but I never really thought about impact." And I think God did that.

Did that major success change you as an artist? Or you've always just stuck to what you've been sticking to?

No, I'm like a super diva now, I'm never going back. Just kidding. [Laughter.] 

I actually don't mind the term “diva.” I've discovered in the industry most of the time, the term means a woman who is very clear about what she wants and doesn't want. And so I was like, "Oh, yeah, I'm cool with that."

But no, it changed my mentality toward success and what success is. Now I realize how much more successful it is to have impact in the world, to be impactful. To be intentional about what you do. You might not make a million dollars, but you might change a million lives. Or you might change one life that can change a million lives. So I think that it's just made me much more aware of impact and how that is a lot more important than just monetary success or fame. It's definitely changed me in that way.

I'm hearing you want to do sci-fi next? Is anything in the works?

There's actually nothing in the works right now on sci-fi, but I do want to do it. No, nothing in the works right now. There are a few things that I'm actually producing. I'm really excited about it, I've started working with Thelma and Jackie Wright out of Philly. She was really incredible. She was one of the biggest drug queenpins out of Philly. She had a very, very quiet operation, and it's a very transformational story. It really actually is a story about survival and a mother's love. I really am excited about her having that opportunity to share her story.