Noël Wells has dropped a dance pop cover of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.”
The rendition, produced by David Thomas Jones, adds a disco touch to the 1977 classic, which features the actress and singer crooning over glittery synths, “Just one look at you/And I know it’s gonna be/A lovely day.”
“I had a vision of the whole world dancing,” Wells said of the recording in a statement. “That’s how it started. This has been a hard year for everyone, and at the beginning of October with the political climate getting more heated and the election approaching, it was getting harder to get up and function during the day. I was listening to music, taking walks and was listening to a lot of Bill Withers. One morning I was listening to ‘Lovely Day’ on repeat and I had this image of a music video beginning with me leading a global dance party. I thought, ‘Can I shoot a music video for someone else’s song?’ And then I thought that maybe I could cover it.”
She continued: “During this whole political season, I’ve been watching people’s roller skating videos on Instagram as a way of getting a little serotonin bump, and I wanted the track to feel like a glitter disco, something you can dance and skate to and feel really free. I just love the message of the song — it’s pure love, and no matter what ‘out there’ might get you down, if you have someone you love and your friends and the things that matter around you, you can tune out that noise. And to me it’s also a political statement. Really, at this point, the Trump administration has become so hateful in such a toxic way, it’s scary. After Biden was elected and I saw people dancing in the streets and fireworks around the world, it felt like maybe we’ll be okay if we just fight this with love. I know it sounds a little pie in the sky, but how hateful can you be if a bunch of happy, cool people are dancing circles around you in a good mood? I know a lot of people are waiting for the other shoe to drop in politics, but I say we have to keep up the energy of the victory and take it all to the next level.”
After appearing on Saturday Night Live for the 2013 season, Wells appeared in Master of None. She starred in 2017’s Mr. Roosevelt — which she wrote and directed — and currently voices the character of Ensign D’Vana Tendi on Star Trek: Lower Decks. She turned to music last year, releasing her debut album It’s So Nice!
