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Watch a 3-year-old adorably sing 'You Raise Me Up,' giving the lyrics a whole new meaning

"I am strong when I am on your shoulders…"

Photo credit: Canva

"You Raise Me Up" is a perfectly fitting song for a small child to sing.

Tantrums aside, there's not much a 3-year-old can do that isn't cute, but sometimes a little one pushes the adorable envelope so far you swear you might burst. Remember the little Italian preschooler gesticulating like an 85-year-old Sicilian grandmother? Or the 3-year-olds philosophizing about the meaning of friendship? Or the wee one who was convinced her favorite Disney characters had called her on the phone? Just when you think there can't be another little kid cuteness that tops the last, along comes a crooner with a tiny top bun to get us all up in our "Awwww"s again.

Nicholas Protsenko is only 3 years old, but he sings in public with his 6-year-old brother Leo playing the piano behind him (and sometimes with their older sister, Karolina, accompanying them on the violin). The musical family busks on sidewalks, much to the delight of passersby, and one recent performance of "You Raise Me Up" has people online cheering as well. Not only does Nicholas sing the whole song from memory, but there's something about a 3-year-old belting out, "I am strong when I am on your shoulders/
You raise me up to more than I can be" that just hits different.

Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"You Raise Me Up" was made popular in the U.S. by Josh Groban, but it was first performed by the Irish-Norwegian band Secret Garden. The melody was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham. It's been covered dozens of times, but Nicholas's version has people particularly tickled.

"That is an absolutely amazing performance from a three year old . . . well done Nicholas."

"What a cutie patootie. Well done Nicholas. The whole family is musically gifted and a joy to watch."

"Nothing is better than this! Filling my heart and soul to overflow. Thank you little ones!"

"My soul needed this. Let him know he did a great job and made my day."

All three of the Protsenko kids are musical, as are their parents. Karolina was featured on The Ellen Show at age 10 after being spotted performing at the promenade in Santa Monica and has since gained millions of followers on social media. The family has documented their kids' musical journeys on social media and as this commenter shared, it's brought lots of joy to their followers:

"These kids are phenomenal. I’ve watched these kids playing on the floor while their sister, Karolina, played the violin. Even before Karolina played the keyboards, or the guitar. Later, Leo was banging on little toy drums, and Nicholas was walking around playing like he was really playing a guitar. In a very short while, surprisingly, Leo started playing the keyboards for real. He was even playing them without even looking. Now, little Nicholas is singing. I’m blown away because he remembers all the words, and stays on key. He’s only like, three years old."

Indeed, it is quite extraordinary to be able to sing a whole song from memory, with accompaniment, at 3 years old. Other videos show Nicholas singing at home, in church and on street corners with the family, and he seems to genuinely enjoy himself.

Interestingly, many people think of "You Raise Me Up" as a praise/worship song, but there's nothing explicitly pointing to God or any higher power in the lyrics. In fact, the lyricist himself has refused to say who the "you" in the song is referring to. In reference to that question, which he says he's been asked frequently, Brendan Graham writes:

"I have never answered that question and it is best left unanswered. In that way the ‘you’ can be whomever you want it to be…mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, grandparent, husband, wife, partner, a loved one, a leader, a teacher…or even a power outside of ourselves…nature…the beauty of our world.

The ‘you’ can be anybody or anything that raises us up to be more than we can be…on our own.

In these times of great affliction for people everywhere, the ‘you’ can be each of us through what we do to help each other, to keep each other safe…to raise each other up.

It can also be each of you, who around the world come together to perform this song of hope and strength and gratitude for all those in our countries and communities who care for us…are there for us…and keep us safe."

All the more perfect for it to be sung by a 3-year-old.

You can follow the Protsenko Family on YouTube.

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Pop Culture

Singer in hospice gives a heartbreaking performance of 'Landslide' for 'one last time'

She was Stevie Nicks in a Fleetwood Mac cover band for over 20 years.

via Recordsnet and Matt Becker/Wikimedia Commons

Singers Marirose Powell and Stevie Nicks.

The final performance of singer Marirose Powell has people welling up all over TikTok because of the soulful way she sang “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac while in hospice care. Powell performed as Stevie Nicks in a Fleetwood Mac cover band for over twenty years, so the song was a major part of her life.

A week before she died from cancer, some friends showed up at her home and asked what she would like to sing. "And she said, 'I want to sing ‘Landslide.' And so she sang ‘Landslide’ one last time," Powell’s daughter-in-law, Sam Xenos, who posted the video on TikTok, told People.

In the video, Powell grabs the railing over the medical bed as she sings a song about the inevitability of the passing of time. The song had to have taken on an even greater meaning as Powell was in the final days of her life. “I’ve been afraid of changing because I built my world around you,” Powell sings. “Time makes you bolder, and even children get old and I’m getting older, too.”

“My mother-in-law performed as Stevie Nicks for decades,” Xenos wrote in a video overlay. “This was her final performance before she passed the following week.” In the caption, she added there wasn't “a day that goes by that I wish we’d had more time with her. She was truly the only person I’ve ever known to leave people better than she found them. Until we can be together again, mama.”

Powell passed away on April 10, 2024, at 62.

@samxenos

there isnt a day that goes by that i wish we’d had more time with her. she was truly the only person i’ve ever known to leave people better than she found them. until we can be together again mama…

In her obituary, she is remembered for her “infectious smile” that “guaranteed to brighten anyone’s day and she was known for her incredibly kind soul and generous heart. She had the beautiful ability to leave all those she touched better than she found them.”

In addition to performing as Steve Nicks, Powell released 3 solo albums and worked as an ER nurse. As a lifelong musician, she would probably be more than pleased to learn that her final performance has touched many people.



"I hope Stevie Nick sees this. She would be proud to know that your mom sung her songs for decades,and her choice of this song was heartfelt," one commenter wrote. "I’m sobbing. God bless you and your family. Your mom is beautiful," another added.

"That might be the most touching performance of ‘Landslide’ to ever exist," a commenter wrote.

Xenos and her husband, Powell's son, are overjoyed that the video has gone viral. At first, she was afraid of how her husband would react to the clip being posted on TikTok. "I remember calling my husband nervous because he didn’t know I posted it," Xenos told Upworthy. "He was over the moon after reading the comments and seeing people feel her genuine soul from that small clip. He asked me to post more videos of her and they have generated a phenomenal response. She was the most giving and generous person. I would tell her to post her music and she was worried no one would care. I’m so honored to have proved her wrong on that fact."

Nicks says she wrote “Landslide” in Aspen, Colorado, at 27. "I did already feel old in a lot of ways," Nicks told The New York Times. "I'd been working as a waitress and a cleaning lady for years. I was tired."

She was also having a hard time in her relationship with Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. She composed the song while looking out her window in the snow-covered Aspen mountains. "And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills / Til the landslide brought me down."

Here is a full performance of “Landslide” that Powell gave in 2016 at the Prospect Theater in Modesto, California. Jamie Byous joins her on guitar.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This article originally appeared in August

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Village People singer tries to deny that ‘Y.M.C.A.’ is a gay anthem and fails spectacularly

So, you're saying it's the ultimate gay anthem, right?

via Mario Casciano/WikimediaCommons

The Village People in 1978.

“Y.M.C.A.,” the 1978 disco smash by the Village People, has recently experienced a renaissance. In November, it hit #1 on Billboard’s Dance/Digital Song Sales chart after being prominently featured in Donald Trump’s rallies since 2020. Trump's dance, where he pumps his fists back and forth to the song, has also become a popular celebration dance in the sports world.

“You know what gets ’em rockin? ‘Y.M.C.A.,’” Trump said on a podcast in 2022, according to NBC News. “‘Y.M.C.A.’ gets people up and it gets them moving.” However, many people have noted the irony that Trump and his conservative supporters have embraced the song, given its reputation for being a gay anthem.



Who are the Village People?

The song was written by the Village People’s lead singer, Victor Willis who is straight and producer Jacques Morali who is gay.

The Village People is a disco group of predominantly gay men who symbolize American masculinity and macho gay-fantasy personas. The band is fronted by Victor Willis, who played a police officer, with backing vocalists and dancers featuring a cowboy, construction worker, native American, leatherman, and GI.



The band was put together to appeal to a gay audience that loved disco music, but their mainstream success meant that some in the audience missed the gay references but still loved bopping to massive hits such as “Macho Man” and “In the Navy.” Trump and his supporters' embrace of the song have many wondering if the Village People effect was happening again. Are Trump supporters oblivious to the fact that “Y.M.C.A.” is known as a gay anthem, or is it just not a big deal to them? While Trump himself has generally been supportive of gay and lesbian individual (he was the first Republican to feature a gay speaker at a presidential convention in 2016) the Republican Party has long been opposed to LGBT rights.



Is 'Y.M.C.A.' a gay anthem?

On December 2, 2024, Willis made a bold proclamation on his Facebook page, denying that the song was a gay anthem while simultaneously illustrating its undeniably gay roots. “There’s been a lot of talk, especially of late, that Y.M.C.A. is somehow a gay anthem. As I’ve said numerous times in the past, that is a false assumption based on the fact that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was totally about gay life,” Willis wrote.

“This assumption is also based on the fact that the YMCA was apparently being used as some sort of gay hangout and since one of the writers was gay and some of the Village People are gay, the song must be a message to gay people. To that I say once again, get your minds out of the gutter. It is not,” he continued.



Randy Jones, who played the cowboy in the group, tells a different story when discussing the song's origins. In 2008, he claimed he took Morali to the McBurney YMCA on Manhattan’s West 23rd Street around four times in 1977 and the producer was “fascinated” by the place.

“Plus, with Jacques being gay, I had a lot of friends I worked out with who were in the adult film industry, and he was impressed by meeting people he had seen in the videos and magazines. Those visits with me planted a seed in him, and that’s how he got the idea for ‘Y.M.C.A,'” Jones said.

Willis refutes the idea that Morali gave him the idea for the song in his Facebook post. “As I stated on numerous occasions, I knew nothing about the Y being a hang out for gays when I wrote the lyrics to Y.M.C.A. and Jacques Morali (who was gay) never once stated such to me,” he wrote. “In fact, Jacques never once told me how to write my lyrics otherwise I would have said to him, you don’t need me, why don’t you simply write the lyrics.”



Although Willis wrote the song and has the right to determine what it’s about, he does a poor job of claiming it isn’t a gay anthem after admitting it was written in collaboration with a gay man for a predominantly gay group in a genre with a big gay audience and an album called "Cruisin'" about a place that was known for gay hookups.

That is a helluva coincidence, don't you think?

Donald Trump Head Nod GIFGiphy

Further, regardless of Willis’ intentions with the song, it has been embraced by the gay community as an anthem. An artist can control what he creates, but how the audience reacts is beyond their control. When a group of predominantly gay men sings about a “young man” who can find “everything for you men to enjoy” and “many ways to have a good time” as they “hang out with all the boys,” it’s impossible to divorce the words from the context.

That’s the beauty of music. A song can have multiple meanings depending on who is performing it. On the other hand, if a traditionally masculine singer such as Rod Stewert or James Brown had sung “Macho Man,” it would have meant something entirely different back in 1978.

It’s also worth noting that Trump was not Willis’ preferred candidate in the election and he found his use of the song in the past a “nuisance.” He also doesn’t mind “that gays think of the song as their anthem” but that it was meant to appeal to “people of all stripes.” That being said, Willis says that starting in January 2025, any news organization that “falsely” refers to “Y.M.C.A.” as a gay anthem will be sued.

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Mom shares a catchy song to use when you or your child is feeling worried

Whether we're 4 or 40, this little ditty is a good reminder of what we can and can't control.

mama nous/Instagram (used with permission)

"Worrying has never changed a thing."

Worrying is a very human habit, but one most of us wish we didn't do so much. The way our brains torture us about the future with worry, fear, and anxiety often starts very young, causing all sorts of woe as people grow up. Excessive worry can keep us from doing things that we enjoy and prevent us from taking reasonable risks. If we don't learn strategies for managing mental obstacles that get in our way, they can play far too big a role in our lives for far too long.

That's why a mantra/song called "worrying has never changed a thing" shared by a mother who goes by "mama nous" has captured so many people's minds and hearts. People are saying it's helping them personally as well as helping them help their kids who struggle with worry.

In a video on Instagram, mama nous shares that she's been singing the song to herself a lot lately, and that her 4-year-old had climbed up into her arm and requested it. "It's the kind of message that he might not need yet, but I hope it helps to plant seeds of resilience that he can draw on when he's ready," she wrote.

Watch:

'This song has actually literally reprogrammed my brain," mama nous writes. "As an anxious person, it's not that I don't worry anymore: it's just that when my brain starts to play its favorite trick of rehashing every mistake I've made that day when I'm in bed trying to go to sleep, there's a new voice that speaks up almost immediately."

Being able to challenge anxious thoughts with more helpful thoughts is a huge step in managing anxiety, and using a song that's so easy to draw from is such a great idea.

"She reminds me to take a breath," mama nous continues. "Then she asks if there's anything I can do about it in this moment. Can I gather information? Can I prepare? Can I talk to anyone in a way that would be helpful? So far the answer has always been no. And then I let out a big exhale knowing that in this moment, all I can do is trust + wait until there is something I can do. And then I am able to let it go."

In a follow-up post, mama nous shared the lyrics to the song, which can also be found on Spotify.

Check out how much people appreciate the helpful offering:

"This is such a wonderful mantra to have, and it absolutely has helped me this week! I love the video of you co-regulating with your child, too. Thank you so much!"

"My 3yo was captivated when I showed him the video of this song! He listened to it over and over!!! ❤️"

"My 6 year old has a message for this lady, " I like your song, it helps me go to sleep, and it helps me a lot to know how to not worry, thank you. X""

"As someone who struggles with anxiety and near-constant worry, this was very soothing and actually brought me to tears, and I will likely have it on repeat. 😭"

"I just wanted to let you know how much this song helped me and my son tonight. He was so disregulated and acting out hard.. eventually I played this a few times together, and it calmed him right down and he kissed me. Thank-you so much for your beautiful creations. We will sing it next time before we get to the points we did tonight."

"I started learning this for my students but on the third round, my voice wabbled so much, I realized it was more for my inner child. ❤️"

Fear is one of our strongest primal instincts, which makes worry and anxiety really tough to counter. It's not easy when it feels like your instinctual brain is working against your conscious brain, but tools like this song can be surprisingly powerful in helping your conscious thoughts override the more instinct-driven ones.

You can follow mama nous on Instagram for more musical tools and gentle parenting inspiration.

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