Just three days after he delivered his final performance as Alexander Hamilton in the smash hit Broadway musical he created, Lin-Manuel Miranda was back on stage. But now, his long hair was gone and he was rapping alongside Jennifer Lopez.
It is a testament to the cultural impact of Hamilton that Miranda can appear as an equal headliner to JLo in the new song called “Love Make the World Go Round” that they put out as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando last month.
The song’s lyrics reflect the sonnet Miranda gave at the Tony Awards, which took place less than 24 hours after the Orlando attack. “We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger, we rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer,” he said in his moving acceptance speech. “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love, cannot be killed or swept aside.”
“What we got is love even when the sinners hate us, we cannot let them diminish or intimidate us,” Miranda raps in the new song. “We sing out, we got the rhythm and the true on our side. We cut through the divide and we do it with pride.”
Currently available for purchase on iTunes, all proceeds from sales of the song will go to the Hispanic Federation for the Somos Orlando Fund.