This fan tribute video was inspired by, and dedicated to, Angelina Jordan, AND her many passionate, adoring and longtime fans. Her fans had been waiting, patiently, for what seemed like forever for her to release her first record-label album or EP, which was finally released in July 2023 - AT LAST! - and is called Old Enough.
Just before the EP was released, it occurred to me that the Etta James classic At Last (which Angelina has covered several times) fit the moment. I modified the lyrics and posted them on a couple of Facebook fan clubs and got a positive response ... and fellow Angel Peter Hormell suggested it be sung. I ended up recording myself, with a karaoke track of the music, and uploaded it (call it Version 1.0) to RU-vid - my first time ever singing publicly. Angelina has a way of inspiring her fans to be better people, and for me, to be creative and step outside my comfort zone. Version 1.0 is available elsewhere on this channel.
Thinking the song deserved better, I got the idea to see if some other fans and reactors might agree to join in a collaborative video, singing the lyrics - and they did! Peter and I knew we needed someone with video editing skills, and contacted Pontus Osterlin (Wrapped in a Warm Blanket podcast, and a reactor himself) and he agreed to take part, and Pontus suggested this could be done in a Zoom-like ‘choir’. So our 3-person team worked over several weeks to put this together - it was a challenge, but such a joy, and Pontus is, literally, AMAZING.
Along the way, we thought that it might be nice to have real accompaniment, and fortunately Ludger Funke agreed to play piano - he is also amazing, as you can see in the video. Also throughout, I kept tweaking and improving the lyrics, and at one point Zoemi Nelson ably assisted in getting them to the final version.
THANK YOU to ALL who participated. And most of all, thank you to Angelina for being the incredible, inspiring, hard-working artist and loving soul that you are.
The RU-vid version was published on a very special day - September 22, 2023, the day of Angelina’s first ever US concert as a headliner, and several of us who took part watched the premiere over breakfast in Portsmouth New Hampshire, after just having met one another for the first time.
The original RU-vid version of this video can be found here:
• Old Enough At Last - A...
Pontus later created a Tiktok version of this fan tribute, in early November, 2023, which can be found here:
www.tiktok.com/@steve_ackerma...
As noted in the above video, and memorably for me and all participants - later that month Angelina noticed the Tiktok version, “liked”, “Favorited” and commented…..such a joy!
The wonder has continued into 2024, as Angelina’s Grandma Mery has posted the Tiktok version on to her Tiktok “story” 4 times (so far) as of publication of the above video - which is itself based on a recording of her Tiktok story on May 26, 2024.
8 июл 2024
